Nervous System Flashcards
What is the nervous system?
controls all other body systems
- helps to maintain homeostasis in the body systems
What is the brain responsible for?
coordinating body activities
- control center
- controls thought, emotion, judgment
What is the largest part of the brain? What are the parts?
cerebrum
- frontal
- parietal
- occipital
- temporal
What is the frontal lobe responsible for?
- motor control
- problem solving
- speech production
What is temporal lobe responsible for?
- auditory processing
- language comprehension
- memory/information retrieval
What is brainstem responsible for?
involuntary responses
What is parietal lobe responsible for?
- touch perception
- body orientation and sensory discrimination
What is the occipital lobe responsible for?
- sight
- visual reception and interpretation
What is the cerebellum responsible for?
balance and coordination
What is spinal cord responsible for?
provides pathway for nerve impulses to and from the brain
- extends from the base of brain to lumbar vertebrae
What are the layers of the meninges?
Outer: dura mater
Middle: arachnoid mater
Inner: pia mater
What does the meninges cover?
brain and spinal cord
What is cerebrospinal fluid?
fluid that is in brain and spinal cord
What is a neuron?
functional unit of the nervous system
What are dendrites?
appendages that receive communications from other cells
What is the nucleus?
genetic material of the cell
What is an axon?
nerve fiber
- stores neurotransmitters
- transmit information to different neurons, muscles, and glands
What is myelin sheath?
protective layer that wraps around the axons
- insulates the neuron
- controls the number of electrical signals being transmitted
What is synapse?
structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron
What are the 2 main sections of the nervous system?
- central nervous system (brain, spinal cord)
- peripheral nervous system (nerves found throughout the body)
What is part of the peripheral nerves?
somatic nervous system
autonomic nervous system
- 12 pairs of cranial nerves and 31 pairs of spinal nerves that branch off from the spinal cord
What is the function of the somatic nervous system?
- controls body’s voluntary skeletal muscles
- neurons carry information to the CNS
What is the function of the autonomic nervous system?
- controls body’s automatic functions (breathing/digestion)
- sympathetic branch: fight or flight
- parasympathetic branch: rest and digest
What is paraplegia?
paralysis of the legs
