Overview of the nervous system Flashcards
What is the central nervous system composed of?
Composed of the brain and spinal chord
What are the three anatomical planes of the brain?
Coronal
Sagittal
Transverse
Coronal plane
Divides brain into anterior and posterior portion
Sagittal plane
○ Divides brain into left and right
Transverse plane
Bisects brain horizontally, allowing for superior view
what are three major brain regions?
Forebrain
Brainstem
Cerebellum
What does the forebrain consist of?
○ Consists of the cerebrum and diencephalon
What does the brainstem consist of?
○ Consists of midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata
What is the largest part of the brain?
Cortex
How many lobes is the cortex divided into?
four
Occipital lobe
○ Visual processing like colour orientation and movement
○ Patients with schizophrenia were found with abnormal activity levels in the occipital lobes
Parietal lobe
○ Sensory processing and proprioception
○ People with dyslexia have reduced levels of activation of the left parietal lobe
Frontal lobe
○ Decision making, attention, consciousness, emotions and deliberate movement
○ Prefrontal lobotomy used to treat a number of personality cognitive disorders
§ No longer common
§ Often results in impaired voluntary behaviour
Temporal lobe
○ Auditory processing
○ Language
○ Speech
○ Receptive aphasia is a condition where there is a major impairment of language comprehension
What does corpus callosum and what does it allow?
- Connects left and right hemispheres
* Allows information to be passed between them
What does the hippocampus do?
- Memory formation
* Memory retrieval
What is the basal ganlia responsible for?
Movement, balance and posture
What movement disorder is associated with the basal ganglia?
Parkinson’s
What is parkinson’s?
is a neurodegenerative disease, caused by dopaminergic function
What is Huntingdon’s chorea?
is a genetic disorder that causes damage to the basal ganglia
Which part of the brain is the diencephalon located?
• Posterior part of the forebrain
What does the diencephalon contain?
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
How many different nuclei does the thalamus contain?
40 different
Information in thalamus
○ Many different streams of information integrated in the thalamus
What can thalamic damage result in?
Thalamic damage results in blending of information streams
What is the hypothalamus?
Collection of small nuclei
What is the hypothalamus responsible for?
§ Temperature § Hunger/thirst § Neuroendocrine control § Circadian rhythms § Blood pressure
What is the key role of the hypothalamus?
Reacts to when the body is under stress
What is the Medulla oblongata’s function?
• Homeostasis: ○ Breathing ○ Heart rate ○ Blood pressure • Motor movements ○ Reflexes ○ Fine motor movements of limbs and face in conjunction with cortex
What can stroke to brainstem region cause?
Brain death
locked in syndrome
What is brain stem death
Loss of blood circulation to all brainstem regions
What is locked in syndrome
Loss of blood circulation to pons
Function of cerebellum
- Movement precision
* Coordination
How far does the spinal chord extend?
45cm
What does the spinal chord do
Transmits signal to and from the brain
What type of circuit is the spinal chord?
Reflexive ciruits
How many parts is the spine divided into?
Into 5 parts
Name the 5 parts the spine is divided into and the number of vertebrates it has
○ Cervical
§ Seven vertebrate
○ Thoracic
§ Twelve vertebrate
○ Lumbar
§ Five vertebrate
○ Sacral
§ Five vertebrate
○ Coccygeal
Four vertebrateWhat does the peripheral nervous system consist of ?
Consists of autonomic and somatic nervous system
What is the autonomic nervous system?
○ Unconscious control: § Heart rate § Blood pressure § Breathing § Digestion
What is the Somatic nervous system
○ Voluntary control of body movement via skeletal muscle
What is the massive part of cerebrum?
Cortex
