Spinalize

Such procedures may involve surgically separating the spinal cord from the brain. In this case, the animal is called spinalized or a spinal preparation. If we assume that every volitional act comes from the brain, then in a spinalized animal all muscle reactions to external stimuli are apparently reflexes, because signals from the brain cannot reach the spinal cord.

An injury that results in complete spinal transection at the thoracic or cervical level has the same effect as the surgical procedure used to spinalize animals for use in experiments.

This conceptual experiment can be physically demonstrated by decerebrating or spinalizing an animal and using a neuromuscular blockade or deafferentiation to remove rhythmic sensory feedback.