Mutual crossed inhibition

When spinal cord interneurons on each side inhibit the other side, they form a mutual crossed-inhibition circuit. It prevents muscles on opposite sides of the body from contracting at the same time.

This can be represented by a simple diagram of two muscle control circuits (circles) that are mutually inhibited (bars). Here, circles with different colors indicate that they are active at different times.

A diagram of two different colored circles, one labeled Left and the other labeled Right. The circles each have a horizontal T-shaped projection extending in the direction of the other circle. The area in between the two projections is labeled Crossed inhibition.