Learning pyramid and archaic reflexes: what the reflex maturity box hides

Learning pyramid and archaic reflexes: the hand that squeezes your finger, fifteen years later

In the pyramid of learning by Taylor and Trott (1991), taken up by Williams and Shellenberger (1996), reflex maturity is one of the six boxes of the sensorimotor level. It refers to the gradual fading of the infant's archaic reflexes, such as the Moro or the grasp, in favor of voluntary movement and postural reactions, mostly during the first year.

Hello to you, the movement professional,

Place your index finger in the hollow of the palm of an infant a few weeks old. The fingers close all at once and squeeze much harder than you would expect from such a small hand. In 1891, in an article titled Darwinism in the Nursery, L. Robinson already described newborns able to carry their own weight, hanging from a horizontal bar. Another familiar gesture: the baby's head goes back a little, and the arms open wide before coming back in an arc in front of the chest.

These two responses are called the grasp and the Moro. Around six months, they have in principle disappeared. Where did they go when that same child holds a pen at eight, or contests a duel in a club academy at seventeen? The learning pyramid by Williams and Shellenberger files this question in a small box on the third level, reflex maturity. Let's open it, from the cradle to the field.

What is an archaic reflex, and what is it for in the infant?

An archaic reflex is an automatic, stereotyped motor response triggered by a specific stimulus: pressure in the palm, a head rotation, a stroke along the back. Most are present from birth and depend on centers located low in the nervous system: the spinal cord for the grasp, the lower brainstem for the Moro. The Moro response goes mainly through the vestibular system (Futagi et al., 2012).

Their usefulness often remains a hypothesis. The grasp looks like the remnant of a vital function in young monkeys, who cling to their mother in the trees. In them as in the human newborn, when the hand squeezes, the Moro responds less.

The asymmetric tonic neck reflex offers a more concrete lead. Head turned to one side, the arm on the face side extends while the other bends, the fencer's posture. By filming fourteen infants during their first twelve weeks, J. Coryell and A. Henderson showed that in the reflex position the hand fell more often into the central field of vision (1979). The reflex would thus help bring the hand under the gaze, before the eye knows how to guide it.

For the pediatrician, a reflex that is absent when it should be there, or maintained too long, serves as a landmark in neurological follow-up (Zafeiriou, 2004). Each reflex has its own sheet in the archaic reflexes section of the LabO.

Ages at which archaic reflexes fade: Moro, ATNR, STNR, TLR, Galant, grasp

When two serious sources disagree on an age, the table gives both.

Table sources: Chamarthi (2026), Futagi (2012), Arcilla (2023), Capute (1982).

The STNR is often presented as a mandatory stage before crawling on all fours, yet Arnold Capute's team saw it in fewer than a third of the 149 infants followed up to 2 years (1982). The Landau appears after the TLR on the stomach and the STNR, independently of them: the authors saw in it an early righting reaction.

What "fading" means: cortical inhibition and postural reactions

When an archaic reflex "disappears," it stays in place in the nervous system. What changes is the control exerted from above. As it matures, the connections of the cortex take over from the reflex generators lodged in the spinal cord and brainstem, and this retreat lets righting and balance reactions emerge (Futagi et al., 2012).

The strongest argument comes from adults. When the frontal lobe is damaged, after a stroke for example, the grasp can come back: neurologists speak of frontal release signs (Schott and Rossor, 2003). The frontal motor areas had been braking the circuit since childhood; the brake lets go, and the old response comes back out.

Postural reactions take over from the reflex. Righting realigns the head and trunk, balance catches the center of mass when it escapes, and protective reactions such as the parachute throw the arms out to cushion a fall. The postural reaction adjusts to the situation, whereas the archaic reflex always responds the same way to the same stimulus. The debate between inhibiting or integrating an archaic reflex starts from there: the verb chosen betrays the picture we have of the nervous system.

Reflex maturity: what the pyramid assumes about the levels above

The pyramid files reflex maturity at the third level, with the other boxes of sensorimotor development and its six skills. The implicit hypothesis: a reflex that stays active would impose a ready-made response where the gesture should be adjusted, and the cost would climb to the perceptual-motor level, then to learning.

Practitioners of this framework describe precise links. An ATNR that is still active would make writing more costly, since turning the head toward the page would pull the arm into extension. An active STNR would weigh on seated posture and on copying from the board, each time the head goes up then back down toward the notebook. A Moro that is poorly held back would maintain a high state of alertness.

These links stand up mechanically, without any having been demonstrated as a cause. It remains to see what the studies show.

Persistent archaic reflexes in school-age children: established, associated, or still to be proven

In children who are doing well, traces are common. Among 35 healthy children aged 4 to 6, the Polish team of Gieysztor found them in 65% at a residual level, and the more marked the trace, the lower the motor scores (2018). The boundary between trace and persistence therefore depends on the tool and threshold chosen.

The link with learning rests mostly on correlations. McPhillips and Sheehy, in Belfast, assessed 409 schoolchildren aged 9 and 10 (2004). Among the weakest 10% of readers, the ATNR averaged 1.56 on a scale of 0 to 4, against 0.56 and 0.59 in average readers and the best readers. A third of the best readers still kept a measurable ATNR, however, and the authors themselves write that reflex persistence cannot serve as a causal model of reading difficulties.

The systematic review by Provazník and colleagues retains 14 studies published between 2004 and 2023, in children aged 3 to 11 with no known neurodevelopmental difficulty (2026). The six motor studies all associate reflex traces with poorer motor skills. Six others link them to poorer results in reading, spelling or mathematics. On the attention side, a meta-analysis of 4 studies and 229 participants finds a moderate correlation between ADHD and the ATNR (r = 0.48) or the STNR (r = 0.39). As for the direction of the link, its authors point to future longitudinal or experimental studies (Wang et al., 2023).

Archaic reflex integration programs: what controlled trials say

In 2000, The Lancet published a randomized trial: McPhillips's team split 60 children aged 8 to 11, struggling readers with a persistent ATNR, into three groups of 20. One group reproduced the movements of the reflex, another did unrelated movements as a placebo, the last did nothing. In double-blind conditions, only the first saw its ATNR drop clearly, by 1.8 points on average out of 4. The protocol is rigorous, the sample modest.

In Provazník's review, most of the five intervention studies report progress, on a limited and heterogeneous set. In 2026, in a Spanish trial on 120 children aged 3 to 8 with typical development, seven weekly sessions of rhythmic movements (Rhythmic Movement Training) gave results with no statistical difference from their placebo version. The craniosacral manual approach tested in parallel improved scores in the short term, a result the authors themselves call preliminary (León-Bravo et al., 2026).

Without a placebo group, the effect on the reflex is confounded with that of extra movement, of an adult's attention or of the passage of time. Measurement also has its limits. In 69 young footballers, assessment by the INPP (Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology) method was reproducible. Depending on the reflex and the examiner, though, a change had to reach 0.3 to 2 points out of 4 to exceed measurement error (Bastiere et al., 2026). On some reflexes, a point gained between two sessions may therefore be noise.

Archaic reflexes in adults and athletes: what the first studies show

In athletes, the published data we found come from a single research team, in Besançon, and a single sport. Bastiere and colleagues assessed 69 players from a French academy, 17 years old on average (2024). All reflexes combined, 68.1% had at least one active archaic reflex, at a low level for most (60.9%) and a medium level for 7.2%. Players moved up an age group showed more.

The same team then followed 58 players over twenty matches (2025). Those with active reflexes completed fewer passes in the imbalance and finishing zones, respectively 15.5% and 31.8% fewer, and lost more duels. The title of the article speaks of an obstacle; the observational protocol establishes an association without settling the direction of the link.

The article on archaic reflexes in adults widens the view beyond sport. Our field reading: in an athlete, a reflex trace is one hypothesis among others, on a par with fatigue, strength or technique, and the retest decides.

In the field: what you can observe, and what is not yours to do

The published grids move the head and watch what the rest of the body does. On all fours, when the athlete turns the head, watch whether the arm on the neck side bends in spite of him. When he lifts the chin, watch whether the pelvis goes toward the heels. Standing, eyes closed, compare his balance with the head straight and with the head back.

Note what you see, compare both sides, and repeat the observation at the end of the session. These observations remain signals: the arm that bends may come from a lack of strength or a poorly understood instruction, and speaking of an active reflex requires a trained examiner. The floor movements of primary motor patterns offer a good field of observation, since crawling and moving on all fours engage the head and the four limbs together. In Neuro-Postural Reprogramming, we keep the same discipline: observe, stimulate, retest.

Linking a reflex trace to a child's schooling, attention or behavior goes beyond your role, as does promising an effect on their grades. When a child seems to keep a reflex to the point of interfering with daily life, refer to the doctor following them, an occupational therapist or a psychomotor therapist. In an adult, a reflex grasp that appears for no known reason is a matter for the doctor, without waiting.

To place reflex maturity back among the twenty-two skills of the diagram, return to the pyramid of learning and its five levels.

The infant's reflex never leaves the nervous system: over the years, the brain learns to hold it back, and it is this restraint that you observe in session.

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Frequently asked questions about the learning pyramid and archaic reflexes

Where do archaic reflexes sit in the Williams and Shellenberger pyramid?

On the third level, sensorimotor development, in the reflex maturity box. The Taylor and Trott pyramid (1991), taken up by Williams and Shellenberger, files there the fading of the infant's archaic reflexes, next to body schema, postural security and motor planning.

At what age do archaic reflexes disappear?

Most fade during the first year. The Moro, palmar grasp and Galant disappear around 4 to 6 months, the ATNR between 3 and 9 months depending on the sources, the plantar grasp around 9 to 12 months. The TLR attenuates more slowly, up to about 2 years.

Do persistent archaic reflexes cause school difficulties?

Nothing demonstrates it to date. Several studies find more reflex traces in children who read or move less well, and a meta-analysis links the ATNR and STNR to ADHD. These studies are correlational, and the researchers who studied reading themselves warn that it cannot be seen as a cause.

Are archaic reflex integration programs effective?

Results remain mixed and rest on few trials. A controlled trial from 2000 shows a drop in the ATNR with targeted movements, and a 2026 review describes progress in most of the five intervention studies. A 2026 trial finds no statistical difference between a rhythmic movement program and its placebo.

Can an athlete have active archaic reflexes?

In young high-level footballers, 68.1% have at least one active archaic reflex, most often at a low level, and one study associates these reflexes with fewer completed passes in the imbalance and finishing zones. These data come from a single sport and a single research team, and remain correlational.

What should you do when a child seems to keep an archaic reflex?

Note what you observe without putting a label on it, then refer to the doctor following the child, an occupational therapist or a psychomotor therapist, who will carry out the assessment. You, you keep working on movement. LabO RNP is neither medical nor paramedical, and is an addition to a care pathway, never a replacement for it.

Sources

Taylor K., Trott M. (1991). Pyramid of Learning, in Williams M.S., Shellenberger S. (1996). How Does Your Engine Run? Albuquerque: TherapyWorks.

Futagi Y., Toribe Y., Suzuki Y. (2012). The grasp reflex and Moro reflex in infants: hierarchy of primitive reflex responses. International Journal of Pediatrics, 2012, 191562.

Chamarthi V.S., Gunasekaran V., Daley S.F. (2026). Primitive Reflexes: Comprehensive Neurological Assessment Across the Lifespan. StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.

Arcilla C.K., Vilella R.C. (2023). Tonic Neck Reflex. StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.

Capute A.J. et al. (1982). A prospective study of three postural reactions. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 24, 314-320.

Coryell J., Henderson A. (1979). Role of the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex in hand visualization in normal infants. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 33(4), 255-260.

Zafeiriou D.I. (2004). Primitive reflexes and postural reactions in the neurodevelopmental examination. Pediatric Neurology, 31(1), 1-8.

Schott J.M., Rossor M.N. (2003). The grasp and other primitive reflexes. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 74(5), 558-560.

Gieysztor E.Z., Choińska A.M., Paprocka-Borowicz M. (2018). Persistence of primitive reflexes and associated motor problems in healthy preschool children. Archives of Medical Science, 14(1), 167-173.

McPhillips M., Sheehy N. (2004). Prevalence of persistent primary reflexes and motor problems in children with reading difficulties. Dyslexia, 10(4), 316-338.

Provazník A. et al. (2026). Persisting primitive reflexes and motor and cognitive development in children: a systematic review. Acta Psychologica, 266, 106915.

Wang M. et al. (2023). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with (a)symmetric tonic neck primitive reflexes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1175974.

McPhillips M., Hepper P.G., Mulhern G. (2000). Effects of replicating primary-reflex movements on specific reading difficulties in children: a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial. The Lancet, 355(9203), 537-541.

León-Bravo G. et al. (2026). Short-term effects of craniosacral therapy and rhythmic movement training on developmental assessment scores and primitive reflex expression in typically developing children: a randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Public Health, 14, 1771040.

Bastiere J. et al. (2024). Persistence and activity levels of primitive reflexes in young high-level football players. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 6, 1409257.

Bastiere J. et al. (2025). Active primitive reflexes obstruct tactical and technical skills in football players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 43(2), 162-172.

Bastiere J. et al. (2026). Intra- and inter-rater reliability of primitive reflex assessments in youth football athletes. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 11(3), 324.

By the LabO RNP team