Chapter #12: Central Nervous System Flashcards
What is the Nervous System composed of?
the brain and spinal cord
What are the functions of the CNS?
- Integration/interpretation of incoming sensory information
- Sending out a motor response to effector organs
Gray Matter
Contains dendrites, cell bodies, & axon terminals (where integration takes place)
What is the function of gray matter?
All synapses are found in gray matter: motor controls, sensory perception, memory, personality, decision-making, etc. etc.
(all synapses are found between axon terminals and dendrites)
White matter
Contains myelinated axons, mostly in fiber tracts
What is the function of white matter?
passes ”messages” between different areas of gray matter (must pass trough white matter first)
Where is gray matter found in the brain?
-gray matter is peripheral
-closer to the outside
-outer layer of gray matter is called the cerebral cortex
Where is white matter found in the brain?
-white matter is more central, under gray matter
-gray matter is superficial and white matter is deep
Where in the brain stem is gray and white matter found?
-scattered brain matter found within the white matter
-white matter is superficial and gray matter is deep
Where in the spinal cord is the gray and white matter found?
-gray matter in a butterfly pattern surrounded externally by white matter
-Central canal found at the center of gray matter
What are ventricles?
hollow chambers found in the brain that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and lined with ependymal cells
Where are the 2 lateral ventricles found?
-one in each cerebral hemisphere
-one on the left, one on the right because 2 cerebral hemispheres
Where is the third ventricle found?
-found in diencephalon (completely enclosed)
Where is the fourth ventricle found?
-most inferior ventricle
-found in hindbrain
-connects to third ventricle via cerebral aqueduct
-continuous with central canal
What happens if ventricles are too large?
-pushes surrounding brain tissue
-prevents parts of the brain from developing correctly
-leads to brain function problems (ex. Schizophrenia)
Cerebral Hemispheres
-Form the most superior portion of the brain, make up most of brain by mass
-Hemispheres have characteristic ridges & valleys
-Gyri: ridges of cerebral hemispheres
-Sulci: shallow ggrooves
-Fissures separate larger regions of the brain (basically really deep sulci)
-Longitudinal fissure: separates the left & right hemispheres
-Transverse cerebral fissure: separates the cerebral hemispheres from the cerebellum
Three general regions of the cerebral hemispheres
Cerebral cortex (gray matter), white matter, and basal nuclei
Why is it important for the brain to have a wrinkled appearance?
-wrinkled appearance allows brain to have more surface area and more surface area means more neurons and more neurons means more brain activity
Lobes of the cerebral hemispheres
-Sulci divide the cerebral hemispheres into lobes
1. Central sulcus: separates frontal lobe and parietal lobe
2. Parieto-occipital sulcus: separates the occipital lobe from the parietal lobe
3. Lateral sulcus separates the temporal lobe from frontal & parietal lobes
-Insula is deep to lateral sulcus
***each lobe is named under the bone its underneath
What is the cerebral cortex?
The portion of the brain where the conscious mind is found
Functions of the cerebral cortex
provides self-awareness, sensation, communication, memory, understanding/learning, initiation of voluntary movement
Three functional areas of the cerebral cortex
1) Motor areas: control voluntary movement (muscle movement)
2) Sensory areas: conscious awareness of sensations (outside or inside the body)
3) Association areas: integrate diverse information (interpreting new and incoming info based on memories)
What does contralateral mean?
-right hemisphere is concerned with sensory & motor functions of the left side of the body (and vice versa)
-cerebral hemispheres are contralateral
-relating to or denoting the side of the body opposite to that on which a particular structure or condition occurs
Why are hemispheres not completely equal in function?
-One hemisphere may have structure/function that other side does not
-Ex: Broca’s area (speech) is usually found in left hemisphere but not right
-No functional area of the cortex works alone (conscious behavior involves entire cortex)
Motor areas of the cerebral cortex and function
-controls voluntary movement
1. Primary Motor cortex
2. Premotor cortex
3. Broca’s area
4. Frontal eye field
Primary Motor Cortex
-allows for conscious control of skilled/precise voluntary movements (initiate movement of skeletal muscle tissue)
-Pyramidal cells: large neurons found in primary motor cortex
-Axons of these neurons travel to spinal cord in corticospinal tracts (tracts carry movement-related information from the cortex to the spinal cord)
-Synapse with and stimulate motor neurons
-contains motor homunculus
What is the motor homunculus?
-the body is represented spatially in the primary motor cortex of each hemisphere
-Each region of the primary motor cortex is responsible for initiating movement in a part of the body
-The larger the body part, the more neurons are dedicated to that region of the body on the cortex (indicates that more neurons are dedicated to initiating movement to these parts of the body)
-larger the body part on motor homunculus = the more precise movements needed (ex. hands and face)
Premotor Cortex
1) Helps plan movements by selecting and sequencing basic motor movements into more complex tasks
-Must “communicate” with the primary motor cortex
2) Controls voluntary actions that depend on sensory feedback (causes your body to move away from negative stimulus and toward a positive one)
-damage to premotor cortex leads to apraxia
What is Broca’s area?
-Function: Specialized motor speech area that directs muscles involved in speech production (important to spoken language)
-Becomes active as we prepare to speak or as we plan other voluntary motor activities
-Is usually found on one side of the brain only (usually left)
What is the function of frontal eye field?
controls voluntary movement of the eyes
Function and sensory areas of cerebral cortex
-General function (of any area): Allows for conscious awareness of sensation
-Consists of:
1) Primary somatosensory cortex
2) Somatosensory association cortex
3) Visual areas (sight)
4) Auditory areas (hearing)
5) Vestibular cortex (balance/orientation)
6) Olfactory cortex (smell)
7) Gustatory cortex (taste)
8) Visceral sensory area (sensations of internal organs)
Primary Sensory Cortex
-Function: receive information from the general sensory receptors in skin
-The body is represented spatially according to site of stimulus input: forms a sensory homunculus
-The larger the body part, the more neurons are dedicated to that area of the body on the cortex
-Damage: difficulty with perceiving touch, fail to recognize an object by touching it, problems with recognizing their own body parts
What is meant by “general” senses?
-a sense in your body can be picked up anywhere (thermal perception and touch)
-special senses are vision, smell, taste, hearing, and equilibrium (collection of neurons only found in certain spots of the body)