Biopsychology Flashcards
What are the components of the Nervous system? [2]:
- Central Nervous System
- Peripheral nervous system
What are the components of the CNS? [2]:
- Spinal Cord
- Brain
What are the components of the Peripheral nervous system? [2]:
- Somatic Nervous system
- Autonomic Nervous system
What are the components of the Autonomic nervous system? [2]:
- Sympathetic Nervous system
- Parasympathetic Nervous system
Spinal cord function [4]:
- Relays info between & rest of body
- Allows brain to monitor & regulate bodily processes
- Its connected to diff body parts by pairs of nerves which connect muscles to specific glands
- Also has circuits of nerves that allow us to reflex lol
What are sum examples of bodily processes monitored ®ulated by the brain? [3]:
- Digestion
- Breathing
- Coordinate bodily movements
What would happen if the spinal cord was damaged?
Areas supplied by spinal cord, below damaged area will be cut off from brain & stop functioning
What are the 4 main areas of the brain? [4]:
- Cerebrum
- Cerebellum
- Diencephalon
- Brain stem
Cerebrum [4]:
- Largest part of the brain
- Split down in the middle into cerebral hemispheres
- Each half has its own function
- Two halves communicate thru the corpus callosum
Cerebellum [2];
- sits beneath the back of the cerebrum
- Involved in ctrling ppl’s motor skills, balance & coordinating muscles to allow precise muscle movement
What would happen if damage to the cerebellum? [3]:
- Abnormalities can result in a no. of problems
- like speech & motor problems
- epilepsy
Diencephalon [2]:
- Lies beneath cerebrum & on top of brain stem
- Has Thalamus & Hypothalamus (2 v important places)
What does the Thalamus do? [2]:
- Acts as a relay station for nerve impulses coming in from senses
- Routes nerve impulses to the right part of the brain where they can be processed
Hypothalamus functions [3]:
- Regulates body temp, hunger & thirst
- Acts as link between endocrine & nervous system
- Ctrls release of hormones from pituitary gland
Where is the Thalamus found?
In the Diencephalon
Where is the Hypothalamus found?
In the Diencephalon
Brain stem function [3]:
- Regulates automatic functions e.g breathing, heartbeat & swallowing
- Motor & sensory neurons travel thru brain stem
- which allows impulses to pass thru brain & spinal cordx
The Somatic Nervous system [3]:
- Made up of 12 cranial nerves & 31 spinal nerves
- These nerves have both sensory and spinal neurones
- Also involved in reflex actions w/o CNS involved so that reflexes can be quicker
Sensory neurones =
Relay messages to CNS from sensory receptors
Motor neurones =
Relay messages from CNS to other areas of the body (effector cells)
The autonomic nervous system =
- regulates involuntary actions like heart beat & digestion
- Has 2 parts: Sympathetic & Parasympathetic
- These regulate same organs but have opposite function cus of the neurotransmitters used
What neurotransmitter does the Sympathetic nervous system generally use? [2]:
- Noradrenaline
- It has stimulating effects
What neurotransmitter does the parasympathetic nervous system generally use? [2]:
- Acetylcholine
- It has inhibiting effects
The sympathetic nervous system [4]:
- Mainly emergency response [Fight or flight]
- Increases heart rate, blood pressure & dilating vessels
- Slows less important bodily processes like digestion
- Neurons from SNS travel to virtually evry muscle & gland, preparin body for rapid action
The parasympathetic nervous system [4]:
- Relaxes individual once emergency has passed
- Slows heartbeat & reduces blood pressure
- Digestion begins again
- Involved in energy conservation [rest & digest]
General components of a neuron [3]:
- Dendrites
- Cell body
- Axon
Dendrites [function]:
At the end of neurons- receive signals from other neurons or sensory receptors
Cell body [function]:
Connected to the dendrites- its the ctrl center of the neuron
Sensory neuron [3]:
- convert info from sensory receptors into neural impulses
- when these impulses reach brain they’re converted into sensations e.g heat = pain
- not all info reaches brain sum stops at spinal cord for reflexes
Relay neuron/ interneurons [2]:
- allow sensory & motor neurons
- Relay neurons/ interneurons lie wholly inbtwn the brain & spinal cord
