Information Transmission Flashcards
What is motor control?
- movement produced by complex neural networks
- activation and coordination of muscle and limbs
- reflexive and reactive and voluntary mechanisms
What does motor control involve?
- sensory-afference
- cortical processing
- motor/action-efference
- coordination
Components of CNS
- Spinal cord
- Brainstem
- medulla
- pons
- midbrain - Cerebellum
- Thalamus (part of diencephalon)
- Cerebral hemispheres (forebrain)
Components of PNS
- everything else of CNS (peripheral nerves and ganglia)
2 major cell types of the nervous system
1) Neuron
2) Glia
Fun fact: Human brain contains 100 billion neuron’s that makes 100 trillion connections
4 Main regions of a neuron
- Dendrites
- Cell body: found in the dorsal root ganglia, outside the spinal column
- Axon
- Presynaptic bouton
What are the 3 types of neutrons
- Sensory
- Motor
- Interneuron
Characteristics of sensory neuron and its function?
- function: provide CNS with information about our world
- also called “afferent” neutrons
- apron 5 millions
- “connect” with motor neuron, interneurons and ascend to higher brain centres
- from a receptor in the periphery (muscle, joint, skin) projecting to CNS- from the PNS to the CNS
Characteristics of Motor neuron and its function
- function: control muscle contraction
- cell bodies in spinal
- input- sensory neurons, interneurons in the spinal cord and higher brain centres
- “final common pathway” to generate movement- final destination to produce movement
- also called “efferent” neuron
- approx. several 100 thousand in CNS
Characteristics of interneurons and its function
function: - receive multiple inputs, integration of these inputs, passing on processed signal to divergent locations- receives signal everywhere and sends it everywhere.
- Vastly outnumber sensory and motor neuron
Structure of the spinal cord
- Grey matter: cell bodies
- dorsal horn-sensory neurons
- ventral horn- motor neurons - White matter: nerve fibres/tracts (axon ascending and descending)
- dorsal, lateral and anterior columns
- myelinated axons appear white
Components of brain stem
- made up of medulla, pons and midbrain
1. Medulla: extension of the spinal cord for the neck and head; also regulates critical life support system
2. Pons: functions as a connection between higher brain regions, cerebellum and spinal cord
3. Midbrain: control of (reflexive) eye movements, as well as auditory and visual reflexes
characteristics of cerebral cortex
- deeply convoluted (folds) so that it can fit many neutrons in the same volume
Folds in the brain
- Gyri or gyrus: convolution or bumps
- sulci (sulcus): valley between gyri that appears as surface lines
- fissure: very deep sulcus
Subdivisions of cerebral cortex
- frontal lobe: Movement, planning, reasoning
- Parietal lobe: Bodily (somatic) sensation, spatial processing
- temporal lobe: hearing, smell, taste, visual perception, speech (left hemisphere)
- Occipital lobe: vision
