Nervous System Flashcards
Aqueous Humour
the clear fluid filling the space in front of the eyeball between the lens and the cornea
Axon
the long part of a neurone
Basal Ganglia
decision making part of the brain
Blind Spot
a spot at the back of the eye where the nerves join and light cannot reach
Central Nervous System
system that controls voluntary and involuntary reactions
Cerebellum
co-ordinates movement and balance and is important for voluntary tasks
Cerebrum
the largest part of the brain, divided into four lobes
Frontal Lobe
the lobe that lies immediately behind the forehead, controls areas concerned with behaviour, learning, personality and voluntary movement
Occipital Lobe
the rearmost lobe in the central hemisphere of the brain
Parietal Lobe
the lobe at the top of the head, concerned with reception and correlation of sensory information
Temporal Lobe
located underneath the temples, concerned with understanding speech
Cilary Muscles
pull the lens for focusing
Circular Muscles
muscles that contract causing the lens to constrict
CAT Scans
Computerised Axial Tomography Scans
scans that use a series of x-ray images from the different angles and a computer to produce cross-sectional images of the body’s internal structure
Concave Lens
a lens for short-sighted people that focuses the light on the retina and makes it converge later
Convex Lens
a lens for long-sighted people that focuses the light on the retina and makes it converge earlier
Coordination Centres
areas that receive information from receptors and send out signals to coordinate a response from the body
Cornea
lets light into the eyes and begins focusing
Cortex
outer layer of the cerebrum
Dendrites
a short branched extension of a nerve cell, along which impulses received from other cells at synapses are transmitted to the cell body
Effector
the part of the nerve that carries stimulus to muscles, organs and glands
fMRI Scans
scans that produce images related to the levels of oxygen in the blood and therefore to metabolic function, and hence, localised brain activity. These scanners produce images related to the water molecule’s hydrogen nuclei and therefore to anatomical structure. These are expensive and are mainly used for experimental research
Grey Matter
the darker tissue of the brain comprimising mainly of nerve cell bodies and dendrites