The Nervous System

What is the job of the hypothalamus?

controls your pulse, thirst, appetite, sleep patterns, and other automatic processes

parasympathetic nervous system

prepares the body for rest

What is the meninges?

protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord

what do neurons do?

relay information to each other making connections that affect the way you think, learn, move, and behave.

What are the five senses?

sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch

What kind of bone is the brain protected by?

skull

What kind of bone is the spinal cord protected by?

vertebrae

Describe the brain?

very compact, weighs 3 pounds, has many grooves and folds used to store the body's important information.

How does the nervous system work?

works with tiny cells called neurons that have specialized jobs.

Explain the three different parts of the brain.

1) Cerebrum - controls all thinking, feeling, personality, memories, it is who you are. 2) Cerebellum - controls and coordinates balance and coordination between all the body systems. 3) Brain Stem - Controls all involuntary actions such as heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing rate.

Explain the difference between the central and peripheral nervous system?

Central nervous system is the brain and spinal cord. Peripheral nervous system is all of the body nerves.

What is the difference between dendrites and terminal ends in a nerve cell?

Dendrites are part of the cell that receives signals from another cell. Terminal ends send the signal to the next cell in line.

Intelligence, learning, and memory

Intelligence - when you are first learning something it takes a little longer but when you get used to doing it it becomes easier. Learning - making the brain learn new things and making new connections keeps it active. Memory - if your brain thinks something you've done is important to remember it's sent to the inner part of the part of the brain for long term storage and retrieval.

What is the main function of the nervous system?

It is the communication system, sending and receiving signals.

Smell

Olfactory cells in the mucous membranes lining the nostril react to chemicals you breathe in and send a message along specific nerves to the brain.

Movement

The left side of the brain controls movement on the right side of the body. The right side of the brain controls movement on the left side of the body.

These are chemical messengers used to send messages/signals from cell to cell.

The neuromuscular junction is the space between a nerve cell and a muscle. There is also a neuro-neuro junction as well and all this applies to both kinds of junctions. The end of the nerve cell has neurotransmitters in it.

What is the cortex?

The outer layer of the cerebrum.

Touch

The skin contains sensory receptors that gather information related to touch, pressure, temperature, and pain and send it to the brain for processing and reaction.

Taste

The tongue has small sensory cells called taste buds that react to chemicals in foods and send messages to the area in the cortex responsible for processing taste.

Describe the spinal cord.

a long bundle of nerve tissue about 18 inches long and 1/2 inch thick, goes from lower part of brain down the spine, has nerves that reach out to the entire body

sympathetic nervous system

a set of nerves that prepares the body for sudden stress like if you witness a robbery. Makes the heart beat faster to send blood to parts of the body that need it.

What is the pons/medulla responsible for?

called the brainstem. Takes in and sends out the brains messages. Controls many of the body's automatic functions like breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, digestion, & blinking.

What is the job of the thalamus?

carries messages coming from the sense organs like the eyes, ears, nose, and fingers to the cortex

What are the two parts of the nervous system?

central nervous system and peripheral nervous system

Describe the left side of the cerebrum.

considered the logical, analytical, objective side. Side you would use if you were studying for a test.

What is the cerebrum?

contains information that makes you who you are; intelligence, memory, personality, emotion, speech, feeling & moving.

What does the brain do?

controls body functions

What are the three parts of the brain?

forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain

What are the four lobes of the brain?

frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal

What does the brain control?

how you think & feel, how you learn & remember, the way you move and talk, the beating of your heart, and the digestion of your food

What is the function of the spinal cord?

it relays messages back & forth from the brain to different parts of the body

Describe the forebrain

largest part of the brain consists of the cerebrum.

Sight

light entering the eye forms an upside down image on the retina, the retina transforms the light into nerve signals for the brain, the brain turns the image right side up and tells you what you are seeing.

Describe the hindbrain

located under the back end of the cerebrum. Consists of the cerebellum, pons, & medulla.

Describe the midbrain

located under the middle of forebrain. acts as the master coordinator for all the messages going in and out of the brain to the spinal cord.

What is the cerebellum?

looks like a smaller version of the brain. Responsible for balance, movement, and coordination.

What is the job of the pituitary gland?

makes hormones that control growth, metabolism, water and mineral balance, sexual maturity, and response to stress

Hearing

sound is the result of sound wavs entering your ears and making your eardrums vibrate, the vibrations move along the tiny bones of the middle ear and turn into nerve signals, the cortex processes the signals telling you what you're hearing.

What are the three inner parts of the forebrain?

thalamus, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland

What is the job of the cortex?

the five senses send messages to the brain to the cortex and then the messages are sent to other parts of the brain. Ex: If you touch a hot stove a message gets sent to move your hand and another message gets sent to another part of the brain to help you remember not to touch a hot stove again.

Basic body function

the part of the peripheral nervous system called the autonomic nervous system that controls the body processes you don't need to think about like breathing, digestion, sweating, and shivering. It has two parts, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Describe the right side of the cerebrum.

thought to be more intuitive, creative, and subjective. Side you would use if you were listening to music.