Lecture 2 - Introduction to Neurophysiology Flashcards
Central nervous system
Brain and spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system
Cranial nerves and the spinal nerves (peripheral nerves)
Both the CNS and PNS are made out of
Neurons and glia
CNS =
Somatic nervous system and autonomic system
PNS =
Somatic sensory division (afferent), somatic motor division (efferent), visceral sensory divison (afferent), sympathetic division (efferent), the parasympathetic division (efferent) and the neuroendocrine division
Somatic nervous system is …
Voluntary
innervates things like our skeletal muscles
Autonomic nervous system is …
involuntary
innervates things like our cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, glands, adipose tissue
Somatic sensory divison
Afferent
responsible for relaying information from the body to the CNS
Somatic and special receptors
Somatic motor division
Efferent
responsible for sending out commands from the CNS to the body, stimulating muscle contraction
Somatic effectors (skeletal muscle)
Visceral sensory division (afferent)
Autonomic
Visceral receptors receive stimulus that get sent to the CNS
Sympathetic division efferent
Autonomic
Fight or flight response
Prepares body for stress responses. Effects include - increased heart rate, constricting blood vessels to skin and viscera to increase blood flow to muscles, decrease digestion, decrease salivation, increase pupil size and increase sweating
Parasympathetic division efferent
Autonomic
rest and digest response
Prepares body for restful situations. Effects include decreased heart rate, increase in gastric motility, decrease in pupil size, increase in salivation
Overview of spinal reflex arc
Stimulation of receptor
Activation of sensory neurons
Information processing in the CNS
Activation of motor neuron
Response of peripheral effector (agonist muscle is contracted, there is also inhibition of the antagonist muscle)
Integration of the information from the spinal reflex arc
stimulus - afferent input via the dorsal root ganglion - up to the brain - modification of the response and travels back down (the afferent signal into the brain CROSSES at the spinal cord i.e. the stimulus is recorded in the brain at the opposite side of the brain that the stimulus was recorded
Stretch reflex and withdrawal reflex are part of the spinal reflex arc
Stretch reflex
Muscle spindles/stretch receptors are stimulated when the muscle is stretched. Results in nerve fibre activation and impulses sent from spindles to the spinal cord along afferent fibres. Information is processed at the level of the spinal cord which causes activation of motor neurons which causes innervation/contraction of the muscle in order to prevent overstretching
Withdrawl reflex
Painful stimuli triggers APs up afferent pain fibres which synapse in the spinal cord. Signals go up to brain to alert of pain, to other levels of the spinal cord to coordinate movement of other joints and onto efferent motor fibres within that spinal level. Stimulation of flexors and inhibition of extensors allows doe withdrawal away from the painful stimulus
Lobes of the brain and their roles
Each side of the brain has four lobes
Frontal lobe = motor cortex plus behaviour, mood, personality, language
Parietal lobe has the somatosensory cortex and also the association cortex (faces, shapes, words etc.)
Temporal lobe = hearing and memory
Occipital lobe = vision
Prefrontal cortex
cerebral cortex that covers the front part of the frontal lobe, principal function is aggression and emotion
Basal ganglia (includes thalamus)
Voluntary movement
Hypothalamus
Neuroendocrine and autonomic control
Brainstem (including pons and medulla)
Autonomic/somatic regulation