General Functions of the Nervous System
Synapse
Small space between a neuron and the cell with which it communicates with
Motor
acting on those decisions
Nerves
bundles of axons
Autonomic nervous system
communicates instructions from the CNS that control viscera, such as heart and various glands - involuntary subconscious actions.
Somatic nervous system
communicates voluntary (conscious) instructions originating in the CNS to skeletal muscles causing contractions.
Central Nervous System
contains brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System
contains brain and spinal nerves
Receptors
gather information by detecting changes inside and outside the body
Receptors convert
information into impulses, which are then transmitted over peripheral nerves to the CNS.
Sensory receptors
located at the ends of neurons in the PNS and provide sensory function of the nervous system.
Neurons
react to physical and chemical changes in their surroundings
Sensory
receiving information
Three general functions of the nervous system
sensory, integrative, and motor
In the CNS
signals are integrated, and conscious and unconscious decisions are made and acted upon by motor functions
Impulses
Bioelectric signals
Neurotransmitters
Biological messenger molecules
Axons
Long processes (nerve fiber) carries the infer away from the cell through impulses and this allows the neuron to communicate with other neurons, as well as with cells outside the nervous system.
Cell types of nervous tissue
Neurons and Neuralgia
Integrative
deciding what to do
Nervous system is composed of
mostly neural tissue, but also blood and connective tissue
Effectors
muscles and glands whose actions are either controlled or modified by nerve activity
Dendrites
small cellular processes that receive the input
Two divisions of motor portions of PNS
somatic and autonomic nervous systems
Motor functions
use neurons to carry impulses form the CNS to responsive structures.