NERVOUS SYSTEMS
Nervous Systems are broken down into divisions
based on location and processing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XEoz_rf40A
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
NERVOUS SYSTEM
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS)
 Composed of the brain and the spinal
cord.
 Serves as the bodies “command
central”.
CNS--BRAIN
The brain:
Makes complex decisions, coordinates the
body’s functions, and initiates our behaviors.
CNS--- SPINAL CORD
Spinal Cord
Plays the supportive role.
Serves as a neural cable connecting the brain with
parts of the peripheral system.
It takes charge of simple reflexes that do not require
brain power.
PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
(PNS)
 Connects the CNS with the rest of the
body through bundles of sensory and
motor axons.
 Sensory and motor axons= nerves
PNS
 Carries messages between the brain and the
sense organs, and the muscles.
 Carries messages that tell your brain about
sense.
 Carries outgoing signals that tell muscles and
glands how to respond.
SOMATIC DIVISION
 Connects sense organs to the brain and links
the CNS with the body’s skeletal muscles.
 The muscles that control voluntary
movements..=

Autonomic
AUTONOMIC
*Self regulating*
 Carries signals that control our internal organs
to perform their jobs.
example- digestion
 The body does the processes unconsciously
AUTONOMIC
Is broken down into two divisions:
1. Sympathetic
2. Parasympathetic
SYMPATHETIC
 Arouses the heart and other organs in stressful
situations when our responses must be quick
and powerful.
 Known as “fight or flight”
 This system also generate adrenalin and
emotions during suspenseful movies
Example: Lifting a car of your child.
PARASYMPATHETIC
 Calming sensation and applies the “neutral
brakes”, returning our internal response to calm
down and collect our emotions
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/thesympathetic-and-parasympathetic-nervoussystems.html
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
 Blood stream carries information along with
oxygen and nutrients.
 The glands that make up the endocrine system
transmit information by releasing hormones
into the bloodstream.
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
The body’s
chemical
messenger
system.
HORMONES
 Chemical messengers that influence not
only body functions but behaviors and
emotions as well.
 Once secreted into the blood, hormones
circulate throughout the body until
delivered to their target.
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
 In normal conditions the Endocrine System
works in parallel with the parasympathetic
system.
 But in crisis the Endocrine System shifts into
Sympathetic gear!
PITUITARY GLAND
 At the base of your brain a “master gland”
pituitary gland attempts to keep all of the
endocrine responses under tight control.
 This gland does this by sending out hormone
signals through the blood
HOW DOES THE BRAIN PRODUCE
BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL
PROCESSES?
 The brain is composed of many specialized
modules that work together to create mind and
behavior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-xEhxMZOcs
LAYERS OF THE BRAIN
Brain Stem and cerebellum
Drive vital functions, such as heart rate, breathing,
digestion
Limbic System
Adds emotions, complex motives, increased memory
abilities
Cerebrum
Enables reasoning, planning, creating, problem solving
BRAIN STEM
 Links spinal cord with brain.
 Nerve pathways that carry messages up and
down spinal cord pathway.
 It has 5 components:
Medulla, Pons, Reticular Formation, Thalamus,
Cerebellum
THE BRAIN STEM AND CEREBELLUM
MEDULLA
 Regulates basic body functions.
 Acts on auto-pilot, meaning without our
conscious awareness.
 Example: breathing, blood pressure,
heart rate.
PONS
 Bridge that connects the brain stem to the
cerebellum.
 Houses nervous circuits that regulate sleep and
dreaming.
RETICULAR FORMATION
 Pencil shaped bundle of nerve cells that forms the
brain stem’s core.
 One of its jobs is to keep the brain awake and alert.
 It also monitors the incoming stream of sensory
information and directing attention to novel or
important messages.
THALAMUS
 Directs all the brain’s incoming and
outgoing sensory/motor traffic.
 It receives information from all the senses
(except smell) and distributes it to
appropriate processing circuits throughout
the brain.
CEREBELLUM
“Little Brain”
 Controls complex movements we perform without
conscious thought.
 Works cooperatively with the brain stem and higher
brain centers to control the complex movements.
 example- dancing, walking to class.
 WORK IS AUTOMATIC
LIMBIC SYSTEM
 Processes memories, regulates complex
motives and emotions involved in feelings of
pleasure and pain.
Two important Limbic structures:
1. Hypothalamus
2.Hippocampus
3. Amygdala
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
Hypothalamus –
Serves as the
brain’s bloodtesting laboratory,
constantly
monitors blood to
determine the
condition of the
body.
HYPOTHALAMUS
 Constantly monitors blood, detecting small changes
in body temp.
Major role in motivation
 Sends neural messages to “higher processing”
areas in the brain, making us aware of the needs it
senses. (hunger, thirst, etc.)
 Also control the Pituitary Gland
 Links the nervous system with endocrine system.
 Regulates the body’s responses during emotional
arousal.
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
Hippocampus –
Involved in
establishing longterm memories.
•
•
shaped like a
seahorse.
Connects your
present with your
past and to help you
remember the
location of things in
space.
HIPPOCAMPUS
 It’s job is to connect your present with your past and
help you to remember locations of things in space.
 It is in the shape of a horseshoe.
 The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is involved
in memory forming, organizing, and storing
 It acts as memory indexer by sending memories out to
the appropriate part of the cerebral hemisphere for longterm storage and retrieving them when necessary.
 = Long term memories
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
Amygdala –
Involved in
memory and
emotion,
particularly fear
and aggression.
AMYGDALA
 It’s job is emotion and memory
 It is almond shaped, 1 inch long, and located within the
temporal lobe.
 Example of emotion– fear and aggression
 It processes and stores memories of emotional events
and is also involved in current emotional responses.
Researchers also find that the amygdala in men and
women respond differently to emotional situations.
 Example- if you witness a murder. This stores those
vivid memories and can replay them to you.
THE CEREBRUM
Cerebrum –
Topmost layer of the brain; the bulbous cap over the limbic system
Cerebral cortex –
Thin gray-matter covering of the cerebrum; carries on thinking and
perceiving
Cerebral hemispheres –
The two walnut shaped halves of the cerebrum, connected by the corpus
callosum
THE FOUR LOBES OF THE
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Frontal lobes: movement and
thinking.
Parietal lobes:
touch sensation and
Occipital lobes:
contain visual cortex, spatial
relationships.
Temporal lobes:
process sounds, including
speech.
LOBES
Frontal:
Models work together to perform our higher mental
functions such as planning, deciding, and
perceiving.
Motor Cortex:
Controls the body’s motor movement by sending
messages via motor nerves to the voluntary
muscles.
PARIETAL LOBE
Patches of cortex that specialize in sensation. It
integrates sensations with memories.
EX-Warmth, smoothness
Parietal Lobe is composed of: Somato Sensory
1. Serves as the primary processing for sensations.
2. It relates information to mental map of the body
to help locate the sources of these sensations.
OCCIPITAL LOBE
 Receive stimulus relayed from the eyes to the
visual cortex.
Visual cortex constructs our moving picture of the
outside world.
TEMPORAL LOBE
 Auditory Cortex: helps make sense of sounds
 Also processes speech sounds.
COOPERATIVE BRAIN
 No individual part of the brain takes on the sole
responsibility for emotion, personality, or memory.
 Every mental and behavior process coordinates
and cooperate with many brain networks
ASSOCIATION CORTEX
 Association cortex –
Cortical regions that combine information from
various other parts of the brain.
 Links everything together**
CEREBRAL DOMINANCE
Cerebral dominance –
Tendency of each brain hemisphere to exert control over
different functions
Aphasia –
The loss of speech caused be brain damage
Spatial orientation –
Process of locating one’s body or other objects in space
**BROCA’S AREA!!!
**Wernicke’s Area
SPECIALIZATION OF THE CEREBRAL
HEMISPHERES
Left Hemisphere
•Spontaneous speaking
and writing
•Responses to complex
commands
•Word recognition
•Memory for words and
numbers
•Sequences of
movements
•Feelings of anxiety
•Positive emotion
Right Hemisphere
•Repetitive but not
spontaneous speaking
•Responses to simple
commands
•Facial recognition
•Memory for shapes
and music
•Spatial interpretation
•Emotional
responsiveness
•Negative emotion
THE SPLIT BRAIN
 Split-brain patients –
Individuals who have had the corpus
callosum surgically severed
 Duality of consciousness –
Condition in which a split-brain patient has
a separate consciousness in each
hemisphere
WINDOWS TO THE BRAIN
 EEG (electroencephalograph) –
Device for recording brain waves, typically by
electrodes placed on the scalp
 Brain waves –
Patterns of electrical activity generated by the
brain
WINDOWS TO THE BRAIN
 Epilepsy –
Brain disorder that is often marked by
seizures and loss of consciousness;
caused by out-of-control electrical activity
in the brain.
 Lesions –
Tissue damage that results from disease or
injury
WINDOWS TO THE BRAIN
 Brain scans –
Recordings of the brain’s electrical or
biochemical activity at specific sites
 CT scanning (computerized tomography)
 PET scanning (positron emission
tomography)
 MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)