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Comparison of the function of muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs. (A) Golgi tendon organs are arranged in series with extrafusal muscle fibers because of their location at the junction of muscle and tendon. (B) The two types of muscle receptors, the muscle spindles (1) and the Golgi tendon organs (2), have different responses to passive muscle stretch (top) and active muscle contraction (bottom). Both afferents discharge in response to passively stretching the muscle, although the Golgi tendon organ discharge is much less than that of the spindle. When the extrafusal muscle fibers are made to contract by stimulation of their motor neurons, however, the spindle is unloaded and therefore falls silent, whereas the rate of Golgi tendon organ firing increases. (B after Patton, 1965.)