The Nervous System- Chapter 3 Flashcards
What is the purpose of the Central Nervous System?
The brain transmits messages to the spinal cord to the muscles in the body.
What parts of the body does the central nervous system consist of?
The brain and the spinal cord.
What other systems does the Peripheral Nervous System consist of?
Autonomic Nervous System, Somatic Nervous System, Parasympathetic System, and the Sympathetic System.
What other systems does the Autonomic System consist of?
Parasympathetic System, and the Sympathetic System.
What is the purpose of the Autonomic Nervous System?
Breathing, blinking, heart rate, digestion.
What does the Parasympathetic System do?
Restores the body to a peaceful state.
What does the Sympathetic System do?
In charge of the “Flight or Fight” response. Prepares the body for action in a stressful situation.
What happens when the Sympathetic System is activated?
Adrenaline is released, senses are increased, heart increases.
Where does the Peripheral Nervous System get its name?
It lies outside of the Central Nervous System.
What does the Somatic Nervous System do?
Muscles, senses, heat, pain, cold.
What are all of the parts of a Neuron?
Dendrites, cell body, myelin sheath, axon, axon terminal, synapse.
What do the dendrites do?
Receive messages.
What does the cell body do?
It helps produce the energy needed to transfer the message.
What is the myelin sheath?
A fatty covering to protect, axon, and speeds transmission.
What is the axon?
The sender of the message.
What is the axon terminal?
It is the end of the axon.
What does a synapse do?
Axon terminals of a neuron, they communicate with the dendrites of another neuron.
What are the 2 kinds of a neurotransmitters?
A promoter, and a inhibitor.
What is a neurotransmitter?
A chemical that is released that transmit signals to another neuron.
What are neurological pathways?
A group of neurons that when we do a specific task.
What form is the message in when it travels through a neuron?
In an electrical form.
What does the Medulla do?
Located in the brain stem. It deals with breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. It is a part of the Autonomic Nervous System.
What does the Pons do?
Located above the Medulla. It is in charge of hearing, equilibrium, taste, eye movement, chewing, swallowing, secretion of saliva and tears.
What does the cerebellum do?
Latin for “little brain”. Plays an import role in motor control.
What does the Reticular Activating System do?
Regulating arousal and sleep-wake transitions.
What does the Thalamus do?
Regulation of consciousness, sleep, and alertness.
What does the Hypothalamus do?
Controls body temp., hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep.
What does the Limbic System do?
Controls emotion, behavior, motivation, long term memory.
What does the Cerebrum do?
Movement, sensory processing, language and communication.
What does the Left Hemisphere of the brain do?
Math calculations, grammar and vocabulary. Damage to it can cause Aphasia.
What does the right hemisphere of the brain do?
Specializes in visual and spatial processes,
What does the Corpus Callosum do?
Latin: tough body. Connects the hemispheres.
What does the Amygdala do?
Formation of memories that deal with emotion, fear center of the brain.
What is localization?
Each part of the brain has a job to do. EX: the hippocampus deals with memory, on a PET scan, you can see what is happening.
What is The Reward System?
If something good happens, like eating a good meal, dopamine is released. It’s simple re-enforcement.
What happens to The Reward System when illicit drugs are induced?
The system gets an exaggerated dopamine response, but eventually the brain stops producing dopamine naturally.
What are the parts of The Reward System?
The prefrontal cortex, ventral tegmental area, and the nucleus accumbus.
What happened to Phineas Gage?
A railroad spike went through Phineas’ brain and severed the connection between the cortex and the Limbic system. He was acting only on emotion.
Describe the neurotransmission process.
Messages are received by the dendrites. The message then tracked down the axon as an electrical signal to the synapse which is a promoter. There are two types, an inhibitor stops the message. When a person learns something new, a group of neurons form a pathway.
Describe what Epilepsy is, and the symptoms, cause, parts of brain, and treatments.
Symptoms- seizures
Parts of brain- whole brain
Cause- lack of GABA inhibitor
Treatment- Valproic acid
Describe what Parkinson’s is, and the symptoms, cause, parts of brain, and treatments.
Symptoms- shaking, slow movement, weak voice, muscle stiffness, problems w/ balance, and intellectual decline.
Parts of brain- Substantia Nigra, Striatum, Basal Ganglia
Cause- lack of Dopamine
Treatment- Levodopa
Describe what Alzheimer’s is, and the symptoms, cause, parts of brain, and treatments.
Symptoms- loss of memory, loss of reasoning skills
Parts of brain- cortex and the hippocampus
Cause- acetylcholine, large amount of amyloid plaques
Treatment- Cognex.
Why do you humans tend to freeze when faced with a fearful situation?
We don’t know what to do. The signal goes to the Amygdala twice as fast as the frontal cortex.
How does the Navy train a soldiers brain to overcome a super fear such as drowning?
Goal setting, positive self talk, arousal control (breathing), visualization (makes the real thing easier).
Describe the battle taking place inside the brain of a base jumper as he/she prepares for her first jump.
The Amygdala produces fear, dopamine is released by the striatum, the frontal cortex then weighs the risk.
Describe the role of the Cerebellum, Amygdala, and the Cortex in athletic performance. Contrast, being “in the zone” vs. “performance anxiety”.
While one is “in the zone” the Cerebellum I struggling the motor responses. The Amygdala is calmed by the Cortex.
Performance Anxiety- the Amygdala is overriding the cortex.
