the central nervous system and human behvaiour Flashcards
what is the central nervous system?
consists of the brain and spinal cord and is the origin of all complex commands and decisions
what are the main functions of CNS?
- it collects, processes and responds to information in the environment
- it coordinates the working of different organs and cells in the body
what is the nervous system divided into?
- central nervous system
- peripheral nervous system
what is the CNS made up of?
- the spinal cord
- the brain
what is the spinal cord and what is it responsible for?
the spinal cord is a tub-like extension of the brain and is responsible for reflex actions such as pulling your hand away
- it also passes messages to and from the brain
what is the brain?
the source of our conscious awareness and where decision making takes place
what is the brain divided into?
two hemispheres which are connected by a group of structures, the main one being the corpus callosum.
what is the outer layer of the brain called?
the cerebral cortex - it distinguishes our mental functioning from other animals.
what are the subcortical structures?
- thalamus
- hypothalamus
- limbic system
- cerebellum
- corpus callosum
what is the thalamus?
the brain’s relay station. it receives information from various senses and passes it on to the appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex for higher level processing.
- it plays a role in sleep, wakefulness and OCD
what is the hypothalamus?
is involved in a variety of behaviours
- controls motivational behaviour (hunger and sex)
- body’s stress response (fight or flight)
- maintains balance in bodily functions (homeostasis)
- regulates the endocrine system via connection with pituitary gland
what is the limbic system?
consists of several structures (amygdala) which regulates emotional responses.
- role memory and learning
limbic system is highly interconnected with areas of the cortex
what is the cerbellum?
has two hemispheres and its primary role is to coordinate posture, balance and movement. it receives and integrates information from the spinal cord
what is the corpus callosum?
the dense collection of nerve cells connects the two hemispheres below the cerebral cortex and allows communication between the hemispheres by passing signals
- it integrates activities of both sides of the body
what is localisation and lateralisation?
the two hemispheres are structurally identical but they have very different functions (left = language) which is known as lateralisation
within each hemisphere, certain areas are responsible for specific functions and behaviours = localisation
what is the cerebral cortex?
the cerebral cortex of both hemispheres is subdivided into 4 lobes (technically 8 as each one is in each hemisphere)
- frontal
- parietal
- temporal
- occipital
what is the frontal lobe?
located in the front of the lobe and makes up 40% of the cerebral cortex in humans
- control high level cognitive functioning such as thinking, planning and problem solving
- contains the motor cortex that controls voluntary movements on the opposite side of the body
what is the parietal lobe?
directly alongside the somatosensory cortex, which processes sensory information from the skin in a contralateral manner
- the area of somatosensory cortex devoted to a particular body part reflects that part’s sensitivity to touch.
what is the temporal lobe?
lie beneath the lateral sulcus of each hemisphere
- contains an auditory cortex which deals with sound processing information coming from the opposite ear.
process the location, volume and pitch of sounds and have a role in understanding language.
what is the occipital lobe?
located at the back of the brain
- contains a visual cortex
everything we see to the right is processed by the left visual cortex before being shared with the right and vice versa
what are the language areas of the brain?
BROCA’S AREA - left frontal lobe area responsible for speech production
WERNICKE’S AREA - left temporal lobe = speech
