NERVOUS SYSTEM WORKSHEET
1. What are the two functions of the nervous system?
a. _______________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________
2. Color/highlight the peripheral nerves with a light color. Then highlight the central
nervous system with a different color.
http://www.answers.com/topic/peripheral-nervous-system?cat=health
3. The central nervous system contains what two parts:
________________ and
_________________
4. The other division of the nervous system is called the peripheral nervous system. Why
do they call it this? (What does peripheral mean?)
5. Label the following parts of the rat brain below: cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and
olfactory bulbs.
6. Compare the parts of the two brains below. Obviously the human brain is larger than the
rat brain, but how do the areas compare proportionately? Check the correct boxes below.
Then write the function of each part of the brain in the last column.
Human brain
Rat brain
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/addiction/genetics/neurobiol.cfm
April 23, 2008
Proportionately
larger in
human brain
Proportionately
larger in rat
brain
Proportionately
about the same
in both brains
Function
Cerebral cortex
Cerebellum
Brain stem
Olfactory bulb
Corpus callosum
7. Why is the olfactory bulb so large in the rat brain compared to the human brain?
8. What is the function of the intervertebral disks?
9. Label the grey matter and the white matter of the spinal cord below. Then label the
spinal nerve that branches off of the spinal cord at this point.
10. How does the white and grey matter of the brain compare to this?
11. What is the name of the cells of the nervous system?
12. How are neurons classified?
function
sensory
motor
interneurons
13. Name the parts of a typical neuron and then give the function of each of the parts. Word
bank: Axon terminal, dendrite, cell body, nucleus, axon, myelin sheath, node.
C
G
A
D
B
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
F
E
14. Learn how a synapse works by using the reading to figure out the correct order of the
steps below.
Receptors on the dendrite of another neuron receive the neurotransmitters.
Vesicles in the axon terminal contain chemicals called neurotransmitters.
An impulse arrives at the tip of a neuron, called an axon terminal
Neurotransmitters move to the edge of the terminal by exocytosis.
The neurotransmitters cross the gap by the diffusion.
A
D
B
C
E