brain and nervous systems

Question 1

nervous system

Answer 1

helps all parts of the body to communicate with each other
- reacts to internal/external body changes
- uses electrical/chemical
- made up of nerve cells (neurons)

Question 2

spinal cord

Answer 2

runs from brainstem to lower-middle spine

Question 3

upper spinal cord

Answer 3

communicates with brain and upper section of the body

Question 4

forebrain

Answer 4

receiving and processing sensory information and higher order thinking (emotions, memory, language)

Question 5

midbrain

Answer 5

coordinated movement, sleep, arousal

Question 6

hindbrain

Answer 6

movement and balance - connects spinal cord to brain

Question 7

peripheral nervous system

Answer 7

communicates information from body to CNS

Question 8

autonomic nervous system

Answer 8

regulates function of internal organs/some muscles
- involuntary responses

Question 9

somatic nervous system

Answer 9

motor neurons communicate messages from CNS to muscles to move
- voluntary responses

Question 10

sympathetic nervous system

Answer 10

stress response (fight or flight)
eg. heart beats fast, blood rushes from brain to muscles

Question 11

parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 11

relaxation response
eg. heart beats slow, increased blood flow to gut, lungs, brain

Question 12

afferent nerves

Answer 12

sense -> CNS
eg. touching heat

Question 13

efferent nerves

Answer 13

CNS -> body (motor neurons)
eg. pulling hand from heat

Question 14

lower spinal cord

Answer 14

communicates with brain and lower parts of body

Question 15

cerebrum

Answer 15

• split into left and right hemisphere
• outer layer = cerebral cortex

Question 16

cerebral cortex

Answer 16

• very thin
• billions of neurons
• lots of grooves (bulges = gyri, valleys = sulci)
• 4 lobes

Question 17

thalamus

Answer 17

• beneath cerebral cortex
• communication centre (receives, processes, prioritises information)
• receives stimuli from sensory organs
• helps regulate cortex activity

Question 18

hypothalamus

Answer 18

• below thalamus
• maintains survival functions (sleep, temp, emotions etc.)
• regulates feeding, fighting, fleeing, fornification (4 fs)

Question 19

medulla

Answer 19

controls breathing, heartrate, digestion

Question 20

pons

Answer 20

• receives visual information
• controls eye/body actions
• regulates sleep, arousal, some muscle movement

Question 21

cerebellum

Answer 21

• receives information from pons
• coordinates body movement (esp. fast)
• regulates posture and balance
• learning, memory, cognitive processes

Question 22

brainstem

Answer 22

• involved in autonomic functioning

Question 23

frontal lobe

Answer 23

• primary motor cortex (movement)
• initiating movement
• language
• planning
• problem solving
• damage to left side = right side loss of movement

Question 24

parietal lobe

Answer 24

• somatosensory cortex (touch info from skin)
• receiving info on sensation (touch, pressure, pain, temp)
• body and spatial awareness
• damage on left side = loss of sense on right side

Question 25

temporal lobe

Answer 25

- auditory cortex (sound info) - parts are sensitive to specific sounds - auditory analysis - damage = form of deafness (side dictates)

Question 26

occipital lobe

Answer 26

- primary visual cortex (visual info) - processing visual stimuli - face/object recognition - damage = blindness, difficulty recognising objects/faces/colours/shapes (one or both eyes)

Question 27

phrenology

Answer 27

analyse a person's strengths/weaknesses based on size and shape of regions of the skull - 26-40 regions (organs) - discredited as difficult to locate organs and how many, experiments showed loss of skull = no change or impact different trait - importance: established certain parts of brain controlling different functions

Question 28

split-brain studies

Answer 28

initial treatment for epilepsy to limit electrical storm on one side of the brain - sever corpus callosum results: reduction in epileptic seizures, found left and right hemispheres specialised in different tasks - left side = analytical and verbal - right side = non-verbal, visual-spatial processing, facial recognition