Content I need to work on (Paper 2)

Question 1

What are the 2 sub-divisions of the Nervous System?

Answer 1

The Central Nervous System (brain and spinal cord) and Peripheral Nervous System (neural pathways going to and coming from the CNS)

Question 2

What is the function of relay neurons?

Answer 2

They transmit electrical impulses between the sensory and motor neurons

Question 3

What is the function of motor neurons?

Answer 3

They transmit electrical impulses from the CNS to the effectors (e.g. glands) When stimulated they release neurotransmitters that bind to receptors on muscles to trigger a response

Question 4

What is the function of sensory neurons?

Answer 4

They carry impulses from the sense receptors in the eyes/ears/tongue and skin to the spinal cord and brain. When these nerve impulses reach the brain, they are translated into sensations. Some neurons stop at the spinal cord, allowing for quick reflex actions.

Question 5

Reflex arcs

Answer 5

allow behaviour responses without processing by the higher-order levels of the brain (essential for survival, rapid motor responses)

Question 6

What are the 2 sub-systems of the Peripheral Nervous System?

Answer 6

The Somatic Nervous System (voluntary skeletal muscles that allow us to move) and the Autonomic Nervous System (predominately involuntary smooth and cardiac muscle activity - including heart, internal organs and glands)

Question 7

What are the 2 sub-systems of the Autonomic Nervous system (part of the PNS)?

Answer 7

The Parasympathetic Nervous System (in charge of slowing down biological processes at rest and digestion of food) and the Sympathetic Nervous System (activated in times of stress/ fear/ rage - controls fight or flight behaviours and accelerates functions like heart rate and blood pressure)

Question 8

What is the function of the CNS?

Answer 8

Responsible for higher mental functions/ conscious awareness and the spinal cord plays a role in transmitting info to and from the brain. It also controls reflex behaviours

Question 9

What is the function of the ANS?

Answer 9

It controls life-maintaining processes such as heart rate, transmits info to and from internal organs. The sympathetic division of ANS prepares body for action and the parasympathetic division conserves energy

Question 10

Dendrites…

Answer 10

receive info from other neurons

Question 11

What does the electrical impulse pass along in order to get to the terminal buttons of a neuron?

Answer 11

The axon

Question 12

The myelin sheath….

Answer 12

insulates the axon to speed up nervous transmission

Question 13

Neurotransmitters are

Answer 13

chemicals which are released from the synaptic knob. They pass across the synapse to pass on the signal to the dendrites of the next neuron.

Question 14

Action potential is

Answer 14

a change in charge that creates the electrical impulse

Question 15

When a neuron is in a resting state, the inside of the cell is….

Answer 15

negatively charged compared to the outside

Question 16

When the neuron is activated by a stimulus…

Answer 16

the inside of the cell becomes positively charged and generates an action potential. This creates an electrical impulse that travels down the axon towards the end of the neuron.

Question 17

Synaptic transmission is…

Answer 17

the process of transmitting messages from neuron to neuron.

Question 18

In a chemical synapse, the presynaptic membrane is the…

Answer 18

cell membrane of an axon terminal that faces the receiving cell.

Question 19

The postsynaptic membrane is separated from the presynaptic membrane by the…

Answer 19

synaptic cleft.

Question 20

Describe the process of synaptic transmission.

Answer 20

Neurotransmitters are found inside the vesicles, in the presynaptic axon terminal. When stimulated by nerve impulses (action potential) at the presynaptic terminal, neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic cleft. They diffuse across the synapse and bind with postsynaptic receptors. Postsynaptic effects are either excitatory or inhibitory.