Nervous System Flashcards
What are the three general functions of the nervous system?
Sensory function
Interpretative function
Motor function
What is the sensory function?
Sensory nerves gather information from inside the body and the outside environment. The nerves then carry the information to central nervous system (CNS).
What is the interpretative function?
Sensory information brought to the CNS is processed and interpreted
What is the motor function?
Motor nerves convey information from the CNS to the muscles and the glands of the body.
What is the central nervous system?
Consisting of the brain and spinal cord. These structures are protected by bone and cushioned from injury by the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
What is the peripheral nervous system?
Consists of the nerves from the CNS to the rest of the body.
What are included in the sensory nerves in the PNS?
Exteroceptors - these pick up info from outside of the body. E.g. eyes, ears, nose and tongue.
Interceptors - info from inside the body such as lungs and digestive system are sent to brain.
Proprioceptors - inside muscles and joints
What is the motor nerves of the PNS?
A nerve cell that transmits signals from the central nervous system to muscles and organs to perform an action.
What are the two parts of the PNS?
Autonomic nervous system
Somatic nervous system
What is the autonomic nervous system?
Controls the automatic functions of the body: heart, smooth muscle (organs) and glands. Divided into two systems:
Sympathetic nervous system - increases level of an organ eg increased heart rate.
Parasympathetic nervous system - decreases the activity level of an organ.
What is the somatic nervous system?
Allows us to consciously or voluntarily control our skeletal muscles. It contains 12 cranial nerves and 31 spinal nerves.
What is the short term sensory storage?
Selective perception takes place. The brain selects the information that is important and ignores the rest.
What is the short term memory?
The selected information is held as working memory but only for up to 20 seconds.
What is the long term memory?
During the time, long term memory makes sense of information. It compares it to pervious experiences and decides the best actions to be taken and this information is transmitted to the muscles.
