Sunday, April 6, 2014

The Nervous System

The Nervous System

  • Central Nervous System
    • The Brain and The Spinal Cord
  • Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
    • All nerves that are not encased in bone
    • Everything but the brain and spinal cord
    • Is divided into two categories:
      • Somatic
      • Autonomic
  • Somatic Nervous System
    • Controls voluntary muscle movement
    • Uses motor (efferent) neurons
  • Autonomic Nervous System
    • Controls the automatic functions of the body
    • Divided into two categories:
      • Sympathetic
        • Sympathetic Nervous System-
          • Fight or flight response
          • Automatically accelerates heart rate, breathing, dilates pupils, slows down digestion
      • Parasympathetic
        • Parasympathetic Nervous System-
          • Automatically slows the body down after a stressful event
          • Heart rate and breathing slow down, pupils constrict and digestion speeds up
  • Reflexes
    • Normally, sensory (afferent) neurons take info up through spine to the brain
    • Some reactions occur when sensory neurons reach just the spinal cord

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