How does the nervous system respond to stimulation and produce movement?

Question 1

monosynaptic reflex

Answer 1

Reflex requiring one synapse between sensory input and movement.

Question 2

glabrous skin

Answer 2

Skin that does not have hair follicles but contains larger numbers of sensory receptors than do other skin areas.

Question 4

Ménière’s disease

Answer 4

Disorder of the middle ear resulting in vertigo and loss of balance.

Question 4

neuroprosthetics

Answer 4

Field that develops computer-assisted devices to replace lost biological function.

Question 4

referred pain

Answer 4

Pain felt on the surface of the body that is actually due to pain in one of the internal organs of the body.

Question 5

hyperkinetic symptom

Answer 5

Symptom of brain damage that results in excessive involuntary movements, as seen in Tourette’s syndrome.

Question 6

paraplegia

Answer 6

Paralysis of the legs due to spinal-cord injury.

Question 7

restraint-induced therapy

Answer 7

Procedure in which restraint of a healthy limb forces a patient to use an impaired limb to enhance recovery of function.

Question 8

cerebral palsy

Answer 8

Group of brain disorders that result from brain damage acquired perinatally (at or near birth).

Question 8

mirror neuron

Answer 8

Cell in the primate premotor cortex that fires when an individual observes a specific action taken by another individual.

Question 8

vestibular system

Answer 8

Somatosensory system that comprises a set of receptors in each inner ear that respond to body position and to movement of the head

Question 9

ventrolateral thalamus

Answer 9

Part of the thalamus that carries information about body senses to the somatosensory cortex.

Question 10

corticospinal tract

Answer 10

Bundle of nerve fibers directly connecting the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord, branching at the brainstem into an opposite-side lateral tract that informs movement of limbs and digits and a same-side ventral tract that informs movement of the trunk; also called pyramidal tract.

Question 11

dorsal spinothalamic tract

Answer 11

Pathway that carries fine-touch and pressure fibers.

Question 12

motor sequence

Answer 12

Movement modules preprogrammed by the brain and produced as a unit.

Question 13

scratch reflex

Answer 13

Automatic response in which an animal’s hind limb reaches to remove a stimulus from the surface of the body.

Question 14

rapidly adapting receptor

Answer 14

Body sensory receptor that responds briefly to the onset of a stimulus on the body.

Question 15

slowly adapting receptor

Answer 15

Body sensory receptor that responds as long as a sensory stimulus is on the body.

Question 16

periaqueductal gray matter (PAG)

Answer 16

Nuclei in the midbrain that surround the cerebral aqueduct joining the third and fourth ventricles; PAG neurons contain circuits for species-typical behaviors (e.g., female sexual behavior) and play an important role in the modulation of pain.

Question 17

ventral spinothalamic tract

Answer 17

Pathway from the spinal cord to the thalamus that carries information about pain and temperature.

Question 19

hypokinetic symptom

Answer 19

Symptom of brain damage that results in a paucity of movement, as seen in Parkinson’s disease.

Question 20

apraxia

Answer 20

Inability to make voluntary movements in the absence of paralysis or other motor or sensory impairment, especially an inability to make proper use of an object.

Question 21

locked-in syndrome

Answer 21

Condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles except the eyes.

Question 22

topographic organization

Answer 22

Neural spatial representation of the body or areas of the sensory world perceived by a sensory organ.

Question 24

deafferentation

Answer 24

Loss of incoming sensory input usually due to damage to sensory fibers; also loss of any afferent input to a structure.

Question 25

proprioception

Answer 25

Perception of the position and movement of the body, limbs, and head.

Question 26

hapsis

Answer 26

Perceptual ability to discriminate objects on the basis of touch.

Question 28

homunculus

Answer 28

Representation of the human body in the sensory or motor cortex; also any topographical representation of the body by a neural area.

Question 29

nocioception

Answer 29

Perception of pain, temperature, and itch.

Question 30

quadriplegia

Answer 30

Paralysis of the legs and arms due to spinal-cord injury.

Question 31

pain gate

Answer 31

Hypothetical neural circuit in which activity in fine-touch and pressure pathways diminishes the activity in pain and temperature pathways.