Biopsychology : Overview of Nervous System

Question 1

What are the two main components in the nervous system?

Answer 1

1) the central nervous system (CNS)

2) the peripheral nervous system (PNS)

Question 2

What is a nervous system?

Answer 2

The nervous system is a network of nerves cells that transmit messages between different parts of the body, allowing communication to take place.

Question 3

What is the periphal nervous system?

Answer 3

The role of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is to relay messages (nerve impulses) from the CNS (brain and spinal cord) to the rest of the body.

Question 4

The PNS consists of two main components what are they?

Answer 4

1) the somatic nervous system

2) the autonomic nervous system

Question 5

What is a somantic nervous system?

Answer 5

• The somatic nervous system facilitates communication between the CNS and the outside world.
• The somatic nervous system is made up of sensory receptors that carry information to the spinal cord and brain, and motor pathways that allow the brain to control movement.
• the role of the somatic nervous system is to carry sensory information from the outside world to the brain and provide muscle responses via the motor pathways.

Question 6

What is a autonomic nervous system?

Answer 6

• The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in homeostasis, which maintains internal processes like body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.
• The autonomic nervous system only consists of motor pathways and has two components: 1) the sympathetic nervous system and 2) the parasympathetic nervous system.

Question 7

What is a sympathetic nervous system?

Answer 7

• The sympathetic nervous system is typically involved in responses that prepare the body for fight or flight.
• Impulses travel from the sympathetic nervous system to organs in the body to help us prepare for action when we are faced with a dangerous situation.

Question 8

What is the parasympathetic nervous system?

Answer 8

The role of the parasympathetic nervous system is to relax the body, and return us to our ‘normal’ resting state. Consequently, the parasympathetic nervous system slows down our heart rate and breathing rate, and reduces our blood pressure.

Question 9

What is a spinal cord?

Answer 9

The role of the spinal cord is to transfer messages to and from the brain, and the rest of the body. The spinal cord is also responsible for simple reflex actions that do not involve the brain, for example jumping out of your chair if you sit on a drawing pin.

Question 10

What is the brain?

Answer 10

The brain provides conscious awareness and is involved in all psychological processes

Question 11

What does the brain consist of?

Answer 11

frontal lobe
parietal lobe
temporal lobe
occipital lobe

Question 12

What is the frontal lobe?

Answer 12

the frontal lobe is associated with higher-order functions, including planning, abstract reasoning and logic.

Question 13

What is the parietal lobe?

Answer 13

the parietal lobe integrates information from the different senses and therefore plays an important role in spatial navigation

Question 14

What is the temporal lobe?

Answer 14

the temporal lobe processes auditory information

Question 15

What is the occipital lobe?

Answer 15

The occipital lobe processes visual information

Question 16

Similarities of the CNS (brain & spinal cord)

Answer 16

The brain stem and spinal cord both control involuntary processes (e.g. the brain stem controls breathing and the spinal cord controls involuntary reflexes).

Question 17

Differences of the CNS (brain & spinal cord)

Answer 17

The brain provides conscious awareness and allows for higher-order thinking, while the spinal cord allows for simple reflex responses.

The brain consists of multiple regions responsible for different functions, whereas the spinal cord has one main function.

Question 18

Similarities of PNS? (somatic/autonomic & sympathetic/parasympathetic)

Answer 18

• The sympathetic nervous system (part of the autonomic nervous system) and the somatic nervous system respond to external stimuli.
• The sympathetic nervous system responds to external stimuli by preparing the body for fight or flight and the somatic nervous system responds to external stimuli (by carrying information from sensory receptors to the spinal cord and brain).

Question 19

Differences of PNS? (somatic/autonomic & sympathetic/parasympathetic)

Answer 19

The autonomic nervous system consists of two sub-components, whereas the somatic nervous system only has one.

The somatic nervous system has sensory and motor pathways, whereas the autonomic nervous system only has motor pathways.

The autonomic nervous system controls internal organs and glands, while the somatic nervous system controls muscles and movement.

The brain consists of multiple regions responsible for different functions, whereas the spinal cord has one main function.