Lesson 1

• What is the nervous system?

  A complicated network of cells which acts as the main communication system between the brain and the rest of the body
• What are the two main functions of the nervous system?

  1. To collect and respond to information in the environment

  2. To control the working of different organs and cells in the body
• What is the nervous system made up of?

  Neurons
• What do neurons do?

  Send messages from the brain around the body and from the body back to the brain
• What are the two major systems within the nervous system?

  The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
• What is the central nervous system made up of?

  The brain and the spinal cord
• What candy peripheral nervous system be subdivided into?

  The autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system
• What are the two divisions of the autonomic nervous system?

  Sympathetic and parasympathetic
• What are the two halves of the brain called?

  Hemisphers
• Which side of the body does the right hemisphere control?

  The left
• Which side of the body does the left hemisphere control?

  The right
• Where is the brainstem found?

  At the base of the brain
• What does the brainstem control?

  Basic autonomic functions like breathing, heartbreak, sleeping, digestion and eating
• What connects the brain to the spinal cord?

  The brainstem
• What is the spinal cord?

  A long tube structure running down our back that carries incoming an outgoing information between the brain and the rest of the body
• What is the function of the peripheral nervous system?

  Transmits information about voluntary and involuntary activity, communicating between the central nervous system and the body
• What does the autonomic nervous system control?

  Involuntary but vital activity like heart rate, blood pressure and digestion
• What is the autonomic nervous system controlled by?

  The brainstem
• What does the somatic nervous system control?

  Voluntary activity like the movement of our skeletal muscles
• What is the somatic nervous system take information from?

  Sensory organs like the eyes and skin
• What else does the somatic nervous system control?

  Some reflex muscular responses like when you quickly move your hand away after touching a hot surface