Nervous System Flashcards
What is another name for sensory neurons?
Affector neurons: they carry information from the senses to the CNS
2 parts of PNS
Somatic and Autonomic Nervous System (SNS and ANS)
What is the SNS responsible for?
voluntary movement
How does the CNS communicate with the rest of the body?
Motor (efferent) neurons: from CNS to muscles
What is the ANS responsible for?
Communication of information between the CNS and non-skeletal muscles
Parasympathetic and Sympathetic division
Contrast parasympathetic and sympathetic
parasympathetic decreases bodily actions (e.g. constricts pupils, slows heart rate) whereas sympathetic does the opposite
Role of parasympathetic division
Responsible for maintaining day-to-day functioning and automatic actions (breathing, digesting)
Homeostasis
Role of sympathetic division
Fight-flight-freeze,
What’s the point of a spinal reflex?
Safety and survival - allows us to respond to stimuli faster than if it were sent to brain
What is a reflex arc?
the process of receiving a sensation and responding to it reflexively
2 forms of reflex arcs
Monosynaptic
Polysynaptic
Monosynaptic reflex arc
one synapse - one sensory, one motor
Affector neuron brings sensation from receptor to spine and then motor neuron sends signal from spine to body
Polysynaptic reflex arc
multiple neurons - at least two synapses
interneurons connecting affector and effector neurons
Long route for emotions
Thalamus to Sensory cortex to hippocampus to amygdala to emotional response
Short route for emotions
Stimulus to thalamus to amygdala
How is the hippocampus related to emotion?
It is used for appraisal of a situation - we recall information relevant to the situation and thus apply that
Role of hypothalamus
fight-flight-freeze: involved in physiological responses to fear-induced stimuli
GABA
Gamma-amino butyric acid
Inhibitory neurotransmitter
Calms people
Glutamate
excitatory
used in memory and learning
Acetycholine
Excitatory Neurotransmitter
involved in muscle contractions, learning and memory and REM sleep
linked with Alzheimer’s - patients with this condition have a deficit in acetycholine
Epinephrine
Can be a hormone or neurotransmitter
Adrenaline
Key role in fight-flight-freeze
Norepinephrine
involved in stress responses, alertness, arousal, emotional emotional regulation and attention
Excitatory so it increases heart rate for example
Dopamine
thoughts, feelings, motivation and behaviours
emotional arousal - pleasure
Parkinson’s is linked with a deficiency in dopamine
Addiction and depression is also linked
Serotonin
“feel good chemical”
regulation of mood, sleep eating, arousal and pain
Depression is linked to serotonin
inhibitory - affects neural circuits involved in aggression and antisocial behaviour
