Neuropsychology Flashcards
What is the CNS composed of?
Composed of the brain and spinal chord
What does the CNS do?
Transmits and recieves messages to and from the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
What is the PNS divided into?
Divided into the Somatic Nervous System and the Autonomic Nervous System
What does the PNS do?
Carries messages to and from the CNS
What does the spinal chord do?
Connects brain and Peripheral Nervous System
What does the Autonomic Nervous System do?
Carries messages from the CNS to internal muscles, organs, and glands, providing feedback
What is the Autonomic nervous system brances?
- Sympathetic nervous system - arousing the body in reponse to a threat
- Parasympathetic nervous system - the maintenence of processes that conserve and protect our bodily functions (saliva, digestion)
What does the Somatic Nervous System do?
Carries messages between the CNS and the body, has a sensory and motor function
What is a neuron composed of?
Nucleus, soma (cell body), dendrite, axon, myelin shealth, axon terminals
What types of brain and spinal chord matter do neurons make up? (2 answers)
Grey matter - where interactions between neurons happen
White matter - specialises in communication between the brain, spinal chord, and rest of body
What are the four types of neurons?
Motor neuron, inter neuron, sensory neuron, principal neuron
What does a motor neuron do?
Controls activity of skeletal muscles smooths muscles and glands
What does a inter neuron do?
Provide connections between other neurons in the brain and spinal chord, connects sensory and motor neurons
What does a sensory neuron do?
Responsible for carrying sensory information from organs to the brain/spinal chord
What does a principal neuron do?
Are found in the brain. They send axons to other regions of the brain
How is information conveyed in a neuron?
Through the cell body and down to the axon in the form of an electrical signal. Can only go one way
What is the prosess for a nerve impulse?
Begins at dendrite, travels through cell body, travels through the axon, reaches axon terminal, releases neurotransmitters that travel acriss the synapse (gap) between the axon terminal and dendrite of neighbouring neuron
What is a nerual impulse?
The electrochemical transmission of information from one neuron to another
What is the process of neural impulse?
Dendrite to Soma to Axon to Terminal buttons to Synapse
What is an action potential?
A breif shift in the neuron’s electrical charge that travels along an axon from soma to terminal buttons
What is a neuron threshold?
The point between whether the cell has enough energy to “fire” the neural impulse
What is a neurotransmitter?
Chemical messengers that transmit messages from one neuron to another
