Biopsych: nervous system & endocrine system

Question 1

What is the nervous system?

Answer 1

Consists of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. Communicates using electrical signals

Question 2

What is the central nervous system?

Answer 2

Consists of the brain and spinal cord and is the origin of all complex commands and decisions

Question 3

What is the peripheral nervous system?

Answer 3

Sends information to the CNS from the outside world, and transmits messages from the CNS to muscles and glands in the body

Question 4

What is the somatic nervous system?

Answer 4

Governs muscle movement and receives information from sensory receptors

Question 5

What is the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 5

Governs vital functions in the body such as breathing, heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal and stress responses

Question 6

What are the two main functions of the nervous system?

Answer 6

To collect, process and respond to information in the environment

To co-ordinate the working of different organs and cells in the body

Question 7

What is the centre of all conscious awareness?

Answer 7

The brain

Question 8

What is the cerebral cortex?

Answer 8

The brain’s outer layer

Question 9

How many hemispheres is the brain divided into?

Answer 9

Two

Question 10

What is the role of the spinal cord?

Answer 10

Passes messages to and from the brain and connects nerves to the PNS. It is also responsible for reflex actions such as pulling your hand away from a hot plate

Question 11

How does the PNS transmit messages?

Answer 11

Via millions of neurons to and from the central nervous system

Question 12

What is the role of the endocrine system?

Answer 12

One of the body’s major information systems that instructs glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstream. These hormones are carried towards target organs in the body. Communicates via chemicals

Question 13

What is a gland?

Answer 13

An organ in the body that synthesises substances such as hormones

Question 14

What are hormones?

Answer 14

Chemical substances that circulate in the bloodstream and only affect target organs. They are produced in large quantities but disappear quickly

Question 15

What is the fight or flight response?

Answer 15

The way an animal responds when stressed. The body becomes physiologically aroused in readiness to fight an aggressor or, in some cases, flee

Question 16

What is adrenaline?

Answer 16

A hormone produced by the adrenal glands which is part of the human body’s immediate stress response system. Adrenaline has a strong effect on the cells of the cardiovascular system - stimulating heart rate, contracting blood vessels and dilating air passages

Question 17

What happens in fight or flight?

Answer 17

When a stressor is perceived the first thing that happens is a part of the brain called the hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland and this triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. The ANS changes from its normal resting state (parasympathetic) to the physiologically aroused sympathetic state

Question 18

What happens once a threat has passed?

Answer 18

The parasympathetic nervous system returns the body to its resting state.