Moro reflex

English

Etymology

Named after Austrian physician and pediatrician Ernst Moro (1874–1951), who was the first in western medicine to describe the reflex.

Noun

Moro reflex (plural Moro reflexes)

1. (physiology) A normal primitive reflex elicited by a sudden stimulus, involving abduction and extension of the arms, followed by adduction; it develops between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation and disappears at 3–6 months of age.
   • 2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream. […] But it was all over in time for my daughter to catch the Nigeria v Argentina World Cup game that evening, during which she seemed to reckon everything was miles offside. (Or was that just the Moro reflex?)

See also

• startle reflex

Further reading

• “Moro reflex”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.