Phys. Unit 2: Nervous System Flashcards
Nervous system
major controlling, regulating, and communicating system
How does the nervous system coordinate the body?
- It receives stimuli from external environment and transmits messages to central nervous system (CNS)
- The CNS processes the information and determines response
- CNS issues commands primarily to muscle and gland cells to carry
out response
What does the central nervous system deal with?
central nervous system
brain and spinal cord
(CNS)
What does the peripheral nervous system deal with?
peripheral nervous system
nerves and ganglia
(PNS)
nerve
bundle of nerve fibers
ganglion
knot-like swelling in a nerve where neuron cell bodies of PNS are concentrated.
what is a neuron
a nerve cell
What is included in the sensory category/web?
sensory
subunit fron the PNS
afferent, carries signals from receptors
(A for arrive, afferent)
visceral sensory
carries signal from viscera (heart, lungs, stomach, organs)
somatic sensory
carries signal from receptors in the skin, muscles, bones, joints
What is included in the motor web?
motor
Subunit of the PNS
efferent, from nervous system to effectors
(e for exit, efferent)
somatic motor
to skeletal muscles
visceral motor
to glands; smooth muscle
3 properties of neurons
excitability, conductivity, and secretion
excitability
ability to respond to a stimuli
conductivity
produce electrical signals conducted to other cells
secretion
when a signal reaches the end of an axon, the neuron secretes a neurotransmitter that cross the gap and stimulates the next cell.
sensory neurons
afferent, detect stimuli
Ex: light, heat pressure
interneurons
receives signal from other neurons, makes the decisions, entirely in CNS
‘gossip-ers’
motor neurons
efferent, send signals out to muscles and gland cells
function of sensory (afferent) neurons
recieve signals and carry signals to spinal cord and brain
cell body
(otherwise called ‘soma’) contains nucleus and many organelles
*rough ER
neurites
extensions, reaching out to other cells
dendrites
primary sites for receiving signals from other neurons