Infant Grasping is not Evidence for Evolution

As many parents and caretakers have seen, pressing a finger in the palm of an infant usually causes the child to hold on. It is interesting to experience, but tends to fade after a few weeks. Those who believe that humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor claim that it is primitive and vestigial.

Because evolution. Because ape infants do it. Darwinists have not fared well in their claims of vestigial structures, and saying such things about the Palmar Grasp Reflex is risible.

Palmar Grasp Reflex, Open Resources for Nursing (CC BY 4.0)

One reason it is so foolish to claim that the reflex is an example of our alleged evolutionary ancestry is that it is very important, and if it is not being exhibited, it is a cause for concern. And yet, when Darwinoids say things like, "The original purpose of the reflex is vestigial or unknown, though it can aid in diagnosing specific pathologies. It serves nothing more than a rudimentary, phylogenetic function necessary for the arboreal life of newborn monkeys," they are contradicting themselves: It is important but also a vestigial leftover. They also make it worse by admitting they don't understand the so-called evolution of the reflex.

There is a great deal happening in physiology for this important reflex and subsequent development of the child to happen, but you would be hard pressed to find an article that doesn't pay homage to the Bearded Buddha with claims that it is primitive and vestigial. No, they need to quit playing games and cowboy up to the fact that this is an important part of the Master Engineer's design work. Just because evolutionists see monkey infants with a grasp reflex and that humans have something similar (plus the fact that do not understand it), doesn't mean EvolutionDidIt. You savvy that, pilgrim?

Rogers, in an article about vestigial organs, admits: “Despite its diminished strength and loss in early infancy, some researchers think that the grasp reflex may retain important functions in humans.” Rogers has a point; even from an evolutionary perspective, if it had no important functions in humans, why would such a complex system have been maintained by selection?

The palmar reflex involves the premotor cortex, supplementary cortex, the brain cingulate motor cortex, and the spinal relay centre located in the cervical spinal cord. These systems are all involved in controlling the grasp reflex through the spinal interneurons. In addition, also involved are the afferent nerve fibres, including the ulnar and median sensory nerves that supply the palmar surface, and the motor nerves that supply the hand’s flexors and adductors. But there are more reasons than this complexity to support Rogers’ statement.

To get a grip on the entire article, swing over to "The palmar grasp reflex is neither useless nor evidence of an ape past."