The Nervous System Flashcards
The Nervous System
- vast, complex communication system that monitors and controls all that we do
2 Main Parts of Nervous System
- Central Nervous System (CNS)
- Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
Central Nervous System (CNS)
- consists of brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
- involves all other nerves
3 Main physical sections of brain
- hindbrain
- midbrain
- forebrain
Hindbrain
- base of the brain at the back of the skull
- made up for brainstem and cerebellum
Brainstem
- controls vital activities
eg. heart rate, breathing, sleeping and reflex actions
Cerellum
- coordinated voluntary movement
- responsible for motor control and balance
- makes movements coordinated and precise
Midbrain
- sits on top of the brainstem under the cerebral hemispheres
- brains sensory switchboard
- receives messages from all the senses except smell and sends them to higher brain regions that deal with hearing, seeing, tasting and touching
Forebrain
- most highly developed and largest part of the brain
- major role in how we think/act/behave
- outer layer: cerebral cortex
- contains cerebrum, limbic system, thalamus, hypothalamus
Cerebral cortex (cerebrum)
- outer layer of brain
- has two halves (hemispheres) that are separated by a deep grove
Corpus Callosum
- deep grove that connects two hemispheres together
- helps both sides of the brain to communicate
Lobes
- frontal
- temporal
- occipital
- parietal
Frontal Lobe
- higher mental ability
- control of movement
- personality
- reasoning
- problem solving
DAMAGE: - person’s personality may change
- capacity for reasoning/problem solving is reduced
Temporal Lobe
- speech
- hearing
DAMAGE: - affects persons language ability
Occipital Lobe
- vision
DAMAGE: - affects vision
- blindness
Parietal Lobe
- bodily sensations eg. temp and touch
DAMAGE: - reduction in bodily feelings
Association cortex
- assists with language/mental abilities
DAMAGE: - problems with language such as odd pronunciation and slurred speech
Parts of neuron
- cell body
- dendrites
- axon
- myelin sheath
Cell body
- contains nucleus
- controls the maintenance and metabolic function of the cell
- energy needed for processed are provided by mitochondria in the cell body
Dendrites
- receive incoming information from other neurons and transmit it to the cell body
Axon
- transmit information from the cell body to other neurons
Myelin Sheath
- protects the axon
- assists with speedy transmission of nerve impulses
2 Main parts of the peripheral nervous system
- Somatic Nervous System
- Autonomic Nervous System
Somatic Nervous System (Senses)
- monitors bodily functions
- receives sensory information from organs such as skin, eyes, ears
- carries messages from CNS to muscles
- helps understand what is going on in the environment
- COMMUNICATES INFORMATION FROM THE SENSORY ORGANS AND MOTOR MESSAGED FROM CNS TO THE MUSCLE
Autonomic Nervous System (Automatic)
- Neurons sending messages from the brain to the smooth muscle e.g. heart, lungs, blood vessels
- regulates INVOLUNTARY functions
- NERVES CONNECTED TO THE HEART, GLANDS AND SMOOTH MUSCLE
2 parts of the autonomic nervous system
- Sympathetic Nervous System
- Parasympathetic Nervous System
Sympathetic Nervous System
- fight or flight
- emergency/arousal
- during times of high emotion (stress/threat)
- increases activity level of some body systems
Adrenaline/Noradrenaline
- increase heart rate
- increase blood pressure
- increase emergency and breathing rate
Parasympathetic Nervous System
- rest and digest
- reverses effect of sympathetic nervous system
- functions return to normal
- keeps body in a state of homeostasis (maintaining a constant internal environment)
