Biopsychology

• What is the nervous system?

  
  

  function in the body that allows different parts of the body to communicate with one another
• What is the central nervous system?

  • made up of the brain and spinal cord
  • controls our behaviour an physiological processes such as heart rate and breathing
  • it does this by receiving information from the sensory receptors and then using the brain to send messages to the muscles and glands within the body
• Explain function of the brain in the CNS?

  • brain receives information from the sensory receptors and converts these into messages for the muscles and glands
  • the cerebrum is the largest part of the brain which is further divided into 4 lobes
  • there is also the cerebellum which controls the motor and balancing skills
  • The brain is also comprised of the diencephalon which holds the thalamus (relay centre), hypothalamus (regulations and control) and the brain stem which is responsible for automatic functions
• Explain the function of the spinal cord in the CNS?

  • responsible for relaying information between the brain to the rest of the body
  • this allows the brain to monitor and regulate processes as well as connecting it to muscles and glands
  • also contains circuit of nerve cells that enable us to perform simple reflexes without the direct involvement of the brain e.g pulling your hand away from something that is hot
• What is the function of the peripheral nervous system?

  • the PNS is outside of the brain and spinal cord
  • it's function is to relay nerve impulse from the CNS to the rest of the body and from the body back to the CNS
  • it consists of the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system
• What is the role of the somatic nervous system?

  • part of the peripheral nervous system that is responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the CNS
  • it is made up of 12 pairs of cranial nerves and 31 pairs of spinal nerves that both have sensory and motor neurons
  • it is also involved in reflex actions without the involvement of the CNS allowing them to occur very quickly
  • it is under conscious control
• What are the sensory neurons?

  carry nerve impulses from sensory receptors to the spinal cord and brain. They convert info from sensory receptors into nerve impulses
• What are relay neurons?


  they allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate with each other
• What are motor neurons?

  they form synapses with muscles to control their contractions.

  when stimulated , they release neurotransmitters that bind to receptors on the muscle and trigger a response

  muscle relaxation is caused by the inhibition of motor neurons
• What is the action potential?

  the dendrites of neurons receive info from sensory receptors The info is then passed down to the cell body on to the axon

  how neurons transmit information from one neuron to the next through an electrical signal. once the info has travelled down the axon it travels down its length in the form of an electric signal
• Explain the features/parts of neurons?

  • dendrites : receives signals from other neurons or sensory receptors and are connected to cell bodies
  • cell body: the control centre of the neuron
  • axon: carries and terminates nerve impulses
  • mylein sheath : covers the axon and allows nerve impulses to transmit more rapidly
• what is synaptic transmission?


  a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron