FRQ 1
If you stub your toe, how does the impulse travel through your nervous system allowing you to pull your toe back and jump up and down in pain?
Use the following terms:
Sensory neuron
PNS
CNS
Interneuron
Motor Neuron
Action potential
Neurotransmitter
Synapse
If I stub my toe, my sensory neurons, which are neurons that relay information received from the senses and deliver the message to the brain; take information through the peripheral nervous system, the system that connects the sensory and motor neurons to the central nervous system (which is composed of the brain and the spinal cord), to the processing area of the brain.
These sensory neurons would travel this pathway to the processing area of the brain after experiencing an action potential. An action potential, also known as, a neuron firing, occurs when, in this case, a sensory neuron receives enough excitatory signals to reach threshold and thus creates an electrical/chemical signal inside of the neuron, which will continue to send the information to neighboring neurons across the synapse, the gap between the neighboring neurons. This action potential will occur and spread like wildfire in neighboring neurons until the message reaches the brain.
The brain area responsible for processing this information creates a signal using interneurons, neurons used to moderate messages occurring between sensory and motor neurons, who then relay the signal to the motor neurons. An action potential occurs in the motor neurons upon receiving this message and sends information telling us to jump up and down in pain.
However, due to neurotransmitters being released in the brain upon receiving the signal of pain from the sensory neurons, our bodies’ natural painkiller, endorphins are released, allowing the experience of pain to fade away.

FRQ 2
A patient who is admitted to the hospital after a stroke suffers from the following symptoms: episodes of intense, unexplainable fear; difficulty speaking and reading aloud; and blindness in his right visual field.
Using the terms below, explain which brain structures you predict might have been affected by the stroke, and why you think those brain structures were affected. (Note: Not all the brain structures listed below were necessarily affected by the stroke. Your essay should clearly indicate which brain structures you predict were affected and which were not.)
• Brainstem
• Amygdala
• Hypothalamus
• Occipital lobe
• Broca's area
• Angular gyrus
The patient who suffered from a stroke is experiencing deficiencies in his amygdala, broca’s area, angular gyrus, and his left occipital lobe.
The amygdala , which is a cluster of neurons that has been associated mostly with fear and rage must have been affected, otherwise the patient would not be experiencing intense, unexplainable fear. The
Broca’s area
, founded by Paul Broca and located in the left hemisphere, controls our ability to speak aloud. This must have been affected or our patient would not have difficulty speaking. The angular gyrus , which has been associated with our ability to read aloud and is also located in the left hemisphere must have been affected, otherwise the patient would not experience difficulty reading aloud. Hi blindness in his right visual field is caused by damage to his left occipital lobe caused by the stroke. The occipital lobe contains our visual cortex and processes information received from our eyes. If this was damaged, it explains the patient’s blindness in his right visual field, which is processed in the opposite hemisphere.
Fortunately for the victim, the stroke did not impact the brainstem, which controls heartbeat and ability to breathe. If the stroke had affected the brainstem he would have died! The hypothalamus was not affected either. If it was, he would have a difficult time eating, drinking, regulating body temperature, or experiencing pleasure.