Central Nervous System and Human Behaviour

Question 1

What is the central nervous system made up of?

Answer 1

Brain
Spinal Cord

Question 2

What does the central nervous system do?

Answer 2

Collects, processes and responds to information from the environment.

Coordinates the working organs and cells in the body.

Question 3

How is the spinal cord connected to the brain?

Answer 3

Via the brainstem

Question 4

What does the spinal cord do?

Answer 4

Controls reflex actions (e.g. pulling hand from a hot plate).

Passes messages to and from the brain.

Question 5

What connects the two hemispheres of the brain?

Answer 5

Corpus Callosum

Question 6

What does contralateral mean?

Answer 6

Left hemisphere controls right side of the body and vice versa.

Question 7

What are the inner parts of the brain called?

Answer 7

Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Limbic System
Cerebellum
Corpus Callosum

Question 8

What protects the inner parts of the brain?

Answer 8

Cerebral Cortex

Question 9

What are the roles of the Thalamus?

Answer 9

It is the brain’s relay system.

It receives information from the senses and passes to the appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex for higher level processing.

Acts as a gate or filter of information and has a role in sleep, wakefulness and OCD.

Question 10

What are the roles of the Hypothalamus?

Answer 10

Controls motivational behaviours (e.g. hunger, thirst and sex).

Key role in the body’s stress response through ‘fight or flight’.

Maintains balance in many bodily functions (e.g. temperature).

Regulates the activity of the endocrine system (hormones) via the pituitary glands.