The Sensory System Flashcards
What do our sense organs do?
provide us with information about our surroundings
What does our sensory system do?
Our sensory system makes us aware of what is happening in and around us
What does our nervous system do?
It processes the information sent to it by the sense organs and allows us to respond in a suitable manner.
What is a stimulus?
Anything in our surroundings which causes us to take action.
What is a response?
The action we take as reaction to a stimulus.
Give an example of a stimulus and it’s response
the sound of a car horn is a stimulus. A response might be to jump out of the way of the car.
What is our sensory system made up of?
5 senses
Each sense is associated with…
A different sense organ
What does the central nervous system consist of?
The brain and the spinal cord
What is the brain?
a complex structure containing millions of nerve cells
What is another word for nerve cells?
neurons
What does the spinal cord contain?
What does the rest of the nervous system contain?
Many nerves which take messages to and from the brain
Nerves which run to and from the central nervous system
what do nerves carry messages from?
what does this allow our sense organs to do?
sense organs to the brain
gather information from our surroundings
How do messages travel along nerves?
as electrical impulses
What happens when the brain receives information from the sense organs?
It makes sense of the message, memorises it and decides on the correct response.
What happens after the brain decides on a correct response
By doing this, what does the brain cause us to do?
It sends a message along different nerves to a muscle (or a group of muscles).
Respond to a stimulus.
Give the sense organ that correlates to these senses. sight smell hearing taste touch
sight - eyes hearing - ears taste - tongue touch - skin smell - nose
what is a neuron?
a nerve cell
What are the two types of nerve cells?
motor and sensory
What is the function of sensory nerves?
They carry messages to the brain or central nervous system
sensory neurons carry messages from the sense organs __________ the ___________
towards
brain
Sensory neurons make our central nervous system …
aware of a stimulus
What do motor nerves do?
Carry messages away from the brain or central nervous system to a muscle
Motor nerves cause us to….
carry out a response
