Divisions Of The Nervous System And Neural Pathways Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is the nervous audited made up of?
The central nervous system(CNS)
The peripheral nervous system(PNS)
What makes up the CNS?
Brain
Spinal cord
What makes up the PNS?
Somatic nervous system(SNS)
Autonomic nervous system(ANS)
What does the somatic nervous system contain?
Sensory and motor neurons
It is mostly in control of voluntary actions such as contractions of skeletal muscles
It’s also in control for some involuntary actions of smooth muscle, cardiac muscle and glands
What does the sensory neurons do?
Carry impulse from the sense organs to the CNS
What do motor neurons do?
Carry impulse from the CNS to muscles and glands
What does the autonomic nervous system consist of?
Sympathetic system
Parasympathetic system
What can you describe the two systems in the ANS as?
What is the action of the ANS like?
Antagonistic, meaning they have opposing effects at the same organs
It’s largely involuntary
What does the sympathetic system control?
What can it do?
It controls the ‘fight or flight’ responses
It can accelerate the heart rate, increase breathing rate, slow down peristalsis and slow down
production of intestinal secretions
What does the parasympathetic system control?
What does it do?
It’s more ‘rest and digest’, acting in the opposite manor
It decreases heart rate, decreases breathing rate, increases peristalsis and increases intestinal secretions
What is a neural pathway?
A number of neurons working together to carry impulses throughout the nervous system
What are the three types of neural pathways?
Converging
Diverging
Reverberating
What is a converging neural pathway?
Impulses from several neurons travel to one neuron
Increases the sensitivity to excitatory and inhibitory signals as the signals are concentrated
Example-convergence of light at the back of the eye
What is a diverging neural pathway?
Impulses from one neuron travel to several neurons
So they affect more than one destination at the same time
Example-fine motor control of fingers
What is a reverberating neural pathway?
Neurons later in the pathway link with earlier neurons sending the impulse back through the pathway
This allows repeated stimulation of the pathway
Example- rhythmical and repetitive activities like breathing
