Chapter 3 Nervous System Flashcards
The Nervous System
The body’s electrochemical communication circuitry
Neuroscience
The field that studies the nervous system
Plasticity
The brains capacity for change
What are the nervous system pathways
afferent nerves, efferent nerves, neural networks
Afferent Nerves or Sensory Nerves
Carry information to the brain and spinal cord. They communicate information about the outside environment
Efferent nerves or motor nerves
They carry information out of the brain and spinal cord. The motor nerves communicate info from the brain and spinal cord to other areas of the body.
Divisions of the nervous system
The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
The central nervous system (CNS)
Made up of the brain and spinal cord. More than 99 % of all nerve cells in our body are located in the CNS.
The peripheral nervous system PNS
The network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body. Brings info to and from the brain and spinal cord and carries out the commands of the CNS to execute various muscular and glandular activity
2 major divisions of the peripheral system PNS
The somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system
Somatic Nervous System
Consists of sensory nerves whose function is to convey info from the skin and muscles to the CNS about conditions such as pain and temperature and motor nerves whose function is to tell the muscles what to do.
Function of the autonomic nervous system
To take messages to and from the body’s internal organs, monitoring such processes as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.
2 parts of the autonomic nervous system
Sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system
Sympathetic nervous system
Arouses the body to mobilize it for action. Involved in flight or flight response.
When your heart pounds and your hands sweat under stress that is your sympathetic nervous system in action.
In emergency the the sympathetic nervous system triggers your stress hormone causing you to focus on what needs to get done now.
Parasympathetic nervous system
Calms the body. The system that rests and digests once you have escaped danger.
