Unit 1 Flashcards
Nervous System
The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Nuerons
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
Central Nervous System
The brain and Spinal cord. The body’s decision maker
Peripheral Nervous System
Gathering information and for transmitting CNS decisions to other body parts.
Nerves
Bundled axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sensory organs.
Sensory Neurons
Neurons that carry incoming information from the body’s tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
Motor Neurons
Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
Interneurons
Nuerons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally and processes information between sensory inputs and motor outputs.
Peripheral Nervous System
Somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system.
Somatic Nervous System
The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.
Autonomic Nervous System
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.
Autonomic Nervous Systems subdivisions
The sympathetic Nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
Sympathetic Nervous System
Fight or flight. The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy.
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Rest and digest. The division of the autonomic system that calms the body, conserving its energy.
Reflex
A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk reflex.
Frontal Lobe
Suppresses socially inappropriate behavior. Predicts consequences of actions. Plays a role in choice between good and bad actions. Judgement. Decision making. Personality.
Parietal Lobe
Assists with interpretation of touch. Plays a role in the knowledge of numbers and their relationships. Helps with the understanding of objects, shapes, and space. Special organization and cognitive maps.
Occipital Lobe
Processes and makes sense of visual information.
Cerebellum
Plays a major role in balance and voluntary motor skills.
Brain stem
Allows the transfer of information between the brain and body. Plays a role in automatic functions such as the heartbeat and breathing.
What is in the Brain Stem
Medulla, pons, reticular activating system, and the thalamus.
Dendrites
A neurons often bushy, branching extensions that recieve and integrate messages, conducting impulses towards the cell body.
Axon
The segmented neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands
Myelin Sheath
A layer of fatty tissue that insulates them and speeds their impulses.
Glial Cells
Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory
Action Potential
A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.
Threshold
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
Refractory Period
In neural processing, a brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state.
All-or-None Response
A neurons reaction of either firing (with a full-strength response) or not firing.
Synapse
the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the ——— gap or the ——— cleft.
Neurotransmitters
Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.
Reuptake
A neurotransmitters reabsorption by the sending neuron
Acetylcholine (ACh)
Enables muscle action, learning, and memory. With Alzheimer’s disease, ACh-producing neurons deteriorate
Dopamine
Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. Oversupply linked to schizophrenia. Undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in Parkinson’s disease.
Serotonin
Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. Undersupply linked to depression. Some drugs that raise serotonin levels are used to treat depression.
Norepinephrine
Helps control alertness and arousal. Undersupply can depress mood.
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)
A major inhibitory neurotransmitter. Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia.
Glutamate
A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory. Oversupply can overstimulate the brain, producing migraines or seizures.
Endorphins
Neurotransmitters that influence the perception of pain or pleasure. Oversupply with opioid drugs can suppress the body’s natural endorphin supply.
Agonist
a molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action.
Antagonist
A molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action.
Endocrine System
The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands and fat tissue that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.
Hormones
Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues
Hindbrain
Consists of the medulla, pons, and cerebellum; directs essential survival functions, such as breathing, sleeping, and wakefulness, as well as coordination and balance.
Midbrain
Found atop the brainstem; connects the hindbrain with the forebrain, controls some motor movement, and transmits auditory and visual information.
Forebrain
Consists of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and hypothalamus; manages complex cognitive activities, sensory and associative functions, and voluntary motor activities.
Medulla
The hindbrain structure that is the brainstem’s base; controls heartbeat and breathing.
Thalamus
The forebrain’s sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
Reticular Formation
A nerve network that travels through the brainstem into the thalamus; it filters information and plays an important role in controlling arousal.
Cerebellum
The hindbrain’s “little brain” at the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory.
Limbic System
Neural system located mostly in the forebrain — below the cerebral hemispheres — that includes the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, thalamus, and pituitary gland; associated with emotions and drives.
Amygdala
Two lima-bean–sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion
Hypothalamus
A limbic system neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system, and is linked to emotion and reward.
Hippocampus
A neural center in the limbic system that helps process explicit (conscious) memories-of facts and events- for storage.
Cerebral Cortex
The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the forebrain’s cerebral hemispheres; the body’s ultimate control and information-processing center.
Motor Cortex
A cerebral cortex area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.
Visual Cortex
In the occipital lobes at the rear of your brain receives input from your eyes.
Auditory Cortex
In your temporal lobes- above your ears- receives information from your ears.
Sensory Cortex
Process and make sense out of information gathered by our five senses.
