This reflex response can be used to study bee learning and memory in the context of foraging.

Touching the soft palate can lead to a similar reflex response.

When they do this, they modify their reflex response to accommodate the external objects into reflex actions.

Such reflex responses form the core, in humans, of more complex and flexible gestural behaviours which can be improvised in particular situations.

Approximately 25 percent also have abnormally exaggerated reflex responses (hyperreflexia), particularly in the legs.