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GCSE AQA Biology Flashcards > B10 The Human Nervous System > Flashcards

B10 The Human Nervous System Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two nervous systems?

A
  • Central Nervous System (CNS)
  • Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
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2
Q

What does the central nervous system (CNS) consist of?

A
  • the brain
  • the spinal cord
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3
Q

What does the peripheral nervous system (PNS) consist of?

A
  • nerves
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4
Q

What is a stimulus?

A

A change in enviroment which can be detected by receptors.

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5
Q

What are receptors?

A

A specialised group of cells which can detect a stimulus.
- Recpetors are found in sensory organs

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6
Q

What are the sensory organs?

A

Eyes, Ears, Tounge, Nose, Skin

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7
Q

What is the function of sensory neurons?

A

They carry electrical impulses from receptors to CNS

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8
Q

What does the CNS do?

A

The brain and spinal cord process information and co-ordinate the response

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9
Q

What do motor neurons do?

A

They carry impulses from the CNS to effectors

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10
Q

What are effectors?

A

Muscles or glands which exert the final response

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11
Q

What is the process for Co-ordinated Response?

A

Stimulus –> Receptors –> Sensory Neurons –> CNS –> Motor Neurons –> Effectors

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12
Q

What are some differences between sensory and motor neurons?

A

1) Motor neurons only have an axon where as sensory has a dendron as well
2) Cell body for sensory neuron is in the middle - don’t have dendrites
3) Cell body for motor neurons are at one end - have dendrites
4) Impulses travel towards the cell body of sensory neurons - opposite for motor

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13
Q

What is a reflex action?

A

Fast and automatic reaction to prevent further damage to your body

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14
Q

What is the process for Reflex Action?

A

Same as Co-ordinated Response but relay neurons in spinal cord replaces CNS

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15
Q

Why is the Reflex Action process slightly different to Co-ordinated Response process?

A

Impulse from sensory neuron doesn’t travel through the conscious part of the brain and it’s transferred into relay neurons in the spinal cord.

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16
Q

What is reaction time?

A

Time taken to respond to a certain or specfic stimulus

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17
Q

What is a way to test reaction time?

A

It can be tested using the ruler dropping experiment

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18
Q

What is the Cerebrum?

A

The largest part of the brain which controls higher human activities such as : memory, intelligence, languages spoken, personalitity, decision making, etc

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19
Q

What is the cerbellum?

A

It controls the voluntary muscle contractions

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20
Q

What is the medula?

A

It controls involuntary activities

21
Q

What is the hypothalamus?

A

It’s important for homeostasis

22
Q

What is the pitutary gland?

A

It produces hormones such as FSH, LH, ADH, TSH, GH

23
Q

Three ways brain functions can be studied:

A

1) Case Studies
2) Electrical stimulation
3) CT and PET scanning

24
Q

Why are studying brain functions difficult?

A

1) Brain Tissues are very sensitive and easily damaged
2) Brain tissues do not regenerate their cells
3) Case studies can have multiple factors acting on a specific area
4) Difficult to isolate areas of the brain for electrical stimulation
5) Experiments may affect emotional state of subject under test
6) Unethical as it could cause death

25
Q

What is the sclera?

A

The outermost layer of the eye which provides protection

26
Q

What is the Cornea?

A

A transparent layer which refracts light onto retina

27
Q

What is the retina?

A

It has photo-receptors to detect light
- Cone cells detect colour
- Rod cells detect black and white

28
Q

What is the optic nerve?

A

It carries electrical impules from retina to CNS

29
Q

What is the iris?

A

Contains two types of muscle called radial and circular to control the size of the pupil

30
Q

What is the lens?

A

It changes the shape to focus near and far objects

31
Q

What is the fuction of the suspensory ligments and cililary muscles?

A

They changes the shape of the lens to focus near and far objects

32
Q

What is the forea?

A

It has a lot of cone and rod cells to give the sharpest vision

33
Q

How does iris reflex work?

A

Bright : Circular - Contract, Radial - Relax
Dark : Radial - Contract, Circular - Relax

34
Q

What happens when the atmosphere is bright?

A

Circular muscles contract radial muscles relax - so the diameter of the pupil decreases so less light can pass through the pupil

35
Q

What happens when the atmosphere is dim?

A

Radial muscles contracts circular muscles relax - the diameter of the pupil increases to allow in more light

36
Q

What is accomodation?

A

The process of focusing near and far objects

37
Q

How do your eyes focus on near objects?

A

Ciliary muscles contract which loosen the suspensory ligaments. The lens become more rounded/thicker. Light is refracted more to create the image on retina.

38
Q

How do you eyes focus on far objects?

A

When ciliary muscles relax it causes suspensory ligaments to tighten. The lens becomes less rounded/thinner. Light is refracted less to create an image on the retina.

39
Q

What is myopia?

A

Short sightedness - caused by too rounded or thick eye lenses, big eyeball

This means the image is created before the retina

40
Q

What is hyperopia?

A

Long sightedness - when the eyeball is too short, wrong shape of lens

The results in the image being created behind the retina

41
Q

How is myopia corrected?

A

A concave lens is used to diverge (spread out) the light.
or
Lazer eye surgery

42
Q

How is hyperopia corrected?

A

A convex lens is used to converge (narrow) the light before it enters the eye.

43
Q

What is colour-blindness?

A

A genetically passed down disease which effects the cone cells of the retina.

44
Q

What is lazer eye surgery?

A

A beam of lazer is used to remove some tissues from cornea to make it thinner so that it refracts light less.

45
Q

What is lens replacement surgery?

A

Lenses can be replaced by human lenses from donors or artifical kenses created by stem cells, tissue culture or nano-technology.

46
Q

What is a synapse?

A

This is the gap between the end of one neuron and the beginning of another neuron.

47
Q

How do impulses travel through a synapse?

A

1) At the end of a neuron there are vesicles which contain a chemical called neurotransmitters

2) When an electrical impulse reaches the end of the neuron the vesicles release the neurotransmitters into the gap

3) They difffuse and bind with the complementary recepetors on the other side of the synapse

This binding generates a new impulse

48
Q

How do synapse slow down the rate of impulse transmission?

A

Because it takes longer for chemicals to diffuse and bind with receptors.

GCSE AQA Biology Flashcards (18 decks)

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