GCP-BioPsy: Nervous System Flashcards
What do biopsychologists study?
How biology influences behaviour.
What does the nervous system allow you to do?
Respond to changes in your environment, and coordinate your actions.
What do receptors do?
Receptors detect stimuli
What do effectors do?
Effectors bring about a response to a stimulus.
What cells do effectors influence?
Effectors include muscle cells, and cells found in glands, e.g. the pancreas.
How do receptors communicate with effectors?
Via the nervous or endocrine systems, or sometimes both.
Does the nervous system and endocrine system work individually to create a response, or do they coordinate together to create a response?
The nervous system and endocrine system coordinate the response.
How many parts does the nervous system have?
Two: The central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
Describe the layout of the nervous system.
The nervous system is made up of two parts: The central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is also made up of two parts: The autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the Somatic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is also made up of two parts: the sympathetic nervous system, and the parasympathetic nervous system.
What is the central nervous system (CNS) made up of?
The central nervous system (CNS) is made up of the brain and the spinal chord.
What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS) made up of?
What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is made up of the neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body. It has two different systems: The autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the somatic nervous system.
What does the autonomic nervous system (ANS) control?
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls unconscious activities, e.g. digestion it has two divisions that have opposite effects on the body: The sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system.
What does the somatic nervous system control?
The somatic nervous system controls conscious activities, e.g. running and playing video games. The SNS connects the CNS with the senses.
What does the sympathetic nervous system do?
The sympathetic nervous system gets the body ready for action. It’s the ‘fight or flight’ system.
What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?
The parasympathetic nervous system calms the body down. It’s the ‘rest and digest’ system.
What are the cells of the Nervous System called?
Neurons.
What do neurons do?
They transmit information as electrical impulses around the body.
Name all the areas of a neuron
- Nucleus
- Dendrite
- Cell body
- Axon
- Schwann cells (which make up the myelin sheath)
- Synaptic knob
What’s another name for an electrical impulse?
Nerve impulses.
What do dendrites in the cell body of a neuron do?
They receive information from other neurons.
Explain the route information takes along a neuron
Information is received by the dendrites, and passes along the axon in the form of an electrical impulse. It ends up at the synaptic knob.
What does the myelin sheath do?
It insulates the axon to speed up nervous transmission.
What is the small gap between neurons called?
A synapse.
What are neurotransmitters and how do they travel between neurons?
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are released from the synaptic knob. They pass across the synapse, to pass on the signal (information) to the dendrites of the next neuron.
