How does the nervous system respond to stimulation and produce movement? Flashcards
monosynaptic reflex
Reflex requiring one synapse between sensory input and movement.
glabrous skin
Skin that does not have hair follicles but contains larger numbers of sensory receptors than do other skin areas.
Ménière’s disease
Disorder of the middle ear resulting in vertigo and loss of balance.
neuroprosthetics
Field that develops computer-assisted devices to replace lost biological function.
referred pain
Pain felt on the surface of the body that is actually due to pain in one of the internal organs of the body.
hyperkinetic symptom
Symptom of brain damage that results in excessive involuntary movements, as seen in Tourette’s syndrome.
paraplegia
Paralysis of the legs due to spinal-cord injury.
restraint-induced therapy
Procedure in which restraint of a healthy limb forces a patient to use an impaired limb to enhance recovery of function.
cerebral palsy
Group of brain disorders that result from brain damage acquired perinatally (at or near birth).
mirror neuron
Cell in the primate premotor cortex that fires when an individual observes a specific action taken by another individual.
vestibular system
Somatosensory system that comprises a set of receptors in each inner ear that respond to body position and to movement of the head
ventrolateral thalamus
Part of the thalamus that carries information about body senses to the somatosensory cortex.
corticospinal tract
Bundle of nerve fibers directly connecting the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord, branching at the brainstem into an opposite-side lateral tract that informs movement of limbs and digits and a same-side ventral tract that informs movement of the trunk; also called pyramidal tract.
dorsal spinothalamic tract
Pathway that carries fine-touch and pressure fibers.
motor sequence
Movement modules preprogrammed by the brain and produced as a unit.
scratch reflex
Automatic response in which an animal’s hind limb reaches to remove a stimulus from the surface of the body.
rapidly adapting receptor
Body sensory receptor that responds briefly to the onset of a stimulus on the body.
slowly adapting receptor
Body sensory receptor that responds as long as a sensory stimulus is on the body.
periaqueductal gray matter (PAG)
Nuclei in the midbrain that surround the cerebral aqueduct joining the third and fourth ventricles; PAG neurons contain circuits for species-typical behaviors (e.g., female sexual behavior) and play an important role in the modulation of pain.
ventral spinothalamic tract
Pathway from the spinal cord to the thalamus that carries information about pain and temperature.
hypokinetic symptom
Symptom of brain damage that results in a paucity of movement, as seen in Parkinson’s disease.
apraxia
Inability to make voluntary movements in the absence of paralysis or other motor or sensory impairment, especially an inability to make proper use of an object.
locked-in syndrome
Condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles except the eyes.
topographic organization
Neural spatial representation of the body or areas of the sensory world perceived by a sensory organ.
deafferentation
Loss of incoming sensory input usually due to damage to sensory fibers; also loss of any afferent input to a structure.
proprioception
Perception of the position and movement of the body, limbs, and head.
hapsis
Perceptual ability to discriminate objects on the basis of touch.
homunculus
Representation of the human body in the sensory or motor cortex; also any topographical representation of the body by a neural area.
nocioception
Perception of pain, temperature, and itch.
quadriplegia
Paralysis of the legs and arms due to spinal-cord injury.
pain gate
Hypothetical neural circuit in which activity in fine-touch and pressure pathways diminishes the activity in pain and temperature pathways.
