Nervous System

Psy-101
 Nervous System
 Human nervous system
consists of billions of
interconnected cells. Most of
these cells are neurons that
control and coordinate the
whole human behavior.
 The nervous system is divided
into two main parts.
1. The Peripheral Nervous
System
2. The Central Nervous System
 Peripheral Nervous System
The Peripheral nervous system consists of the nerves
that branch out from the brain and spinal cord. These
nerves form the communication network between the
CNS and the body parts.

PNS has two important parts:

1: Somatic Nervous System
2: Autonomic Nervous System
1: Somatic Nervous system
 The part of the nervous system that controls voluntary
movement.
 It is the system which directs the organs and muscles
to action, such as to move the arm, looking up,
running and so on.
 It reports the current state of skeletal muscles and
carries instructions back.
2: Autonomic Nervous system
 The part of the nervous system that controls
involuntary movement( the actions of heart, lungs and
other organs).
 Considered as the “self governing or self-regulatory
mechanism” because of its involuntary operation.
 Controls the glands and muscles of internal organs
e.g. heart, stomach, and glandular activity.
 A.N.S. has a dual function; i.e. both arousing and
calming.
 Comprises two sub systems; Sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous systems
 Autonomic Nervous System
It also has two subdivions
1. Sympathetic System
2. Parasympathetic System
Sympathetic System; It acts to prepare the body in
stress or emergency situations .This response takes
the form of “fight or flight”.
e.g. a person saw the snake in his path, his sympathetic
nervous system cause the increase in heart rate
,blood pressure and breathing.
 If something alarms, endangers, excites, or enrages a person,
the sympathetic nervous system accelerates heart beat, slows
digestion, raises the sugar level in blood, dilates the arteries
and cools the body through perspiration; makes one alert and
ready for action.
Parasympathetic Nervous System
 It acts to calm the body after the emergency situation
is resolved. It causes heart rate to slow down ,blood
pressure to drop and breathing to become normal.
 It produces an effect opposite to that of sympathetic
nervous system.
 It conserves energy by decreasing heart beat,
lowering blood pressure, lowering blood sugar and so
on.
 Sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions work in
opposition to each other. If one system is arousing the
body, the other system is relaxing the body.
 The Central Nervous System
The central nervous
system has two parts

1. The Spinal Cord

2. The Brain

Spinal Cord
It is encased in the
backbone and has a number
of functions to perform.
1. It receives sensory input through the
peripheral nerves.
2. It controls all the body’s activities and
movements.
3. It control reflexes.
 Brain
 The center of the nervous system.
 The vital organ that is responsible for the functions
of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, thinking,
feeling, remembering,
 speaking, dreaming, information processing, and a
lot more.
 The regulator of basic survival functions such as
breathing, resting and feeding.
It is responsible for abstract level functions such as
decision making, foresight, and problem solving.
The spinal cord is an information highway
connecting the PNS to the brain.
Information travels to and from the brain by way of
spinal cord.
 Brain
 It is divided into three
parts
1. The Brain Stem/
Hindbrain
2. Midbrain
3. The Forebrain
1: The Brain stem/ Hindbrain
 It extends from spinal
cord and gradually
changes into the brain
stem, near the junction of
the skull.

 Responsible for basic

survival functions such
as breathing, heartbeat,
and blood pressure.
 Brain stem/ Hindbrain
It contains four parts
1. Medulla;
 It is important in many activities as heart rate,
blood pressure and other bodily actions.
 It controls tongue movements, taste, touch
and position of limbs .
2. Pons;
 The sensory neurons in the pons receive
input from hearing receptors and head
position receptors.
 On the movement or motor side, the pons
control jaw movement, certain eye
movements and muscle movements involved
in facial expressions.
3. Reticular Formation
• The reticular formation is a region running through the middle
of the hindbrain and into the midbrain.
• A dense network of nerve cells.
• It keeps the brain alert even during sleep
• Serious damage to reticular formation may result into a coma.
4. The Cerebellum
This structure receives sensory and other inputs from the spinal
cord, brain stem and forebrain and processes this information
to many parts of the brain to help make our movements precise,
coordinated and smooth.
In other words, It is involved in coordination of the motor
activity, maintenance of physical postures (position of the
body) and the body balance.
 2. Midbrain
Midbrain; It is relatively
small region that connects
the hind brain with the
forebrain. It appears to
function mainly as railway
station for messages
coming into the brain. It
also contains structures that
play a role in seeing
,hearing and movement.
 3. The Forebrain
 It influences many of the basic
life support functions , and
higher level behaviors as
perception, thought, memory,
speech, motivated behavior
and fine control of motor
movements.
 Four major regions are as
under;
1. Thalamus
2. Hypothalamus
3. Limbic System
4. Cerebrum
 The Forebrain
1.Thalamus; It primarily acts as a transmit station ,
mostly messages concerning sensory information
,from eyes, ears and skin travel to the thalamus to
be communicated upward to higher parts of the
brain.
2. Hypothalamus; It helps provide a constant body
temperature and monitors the amount of food
stored in the cells. It also produces and regulates
behavior that is important to survival like eating,
drinking ,fighting and so on.
 The Forebrain
3. Limbic System; Certain structures of the limbic
system are involved in emotional behavior like
expression of aggression and feelings of pleasure.
It is also important for memory.
4.Cerebrum;It is divided into two halves: the right
and left hemispheres. The left hemisphere
controls the right side of the body and receives
impulses from the right side of the body and of
the external world ; the right hemisphere controls
left side and receives impulses from it.
 The Forebrain
There are four sections or lobes in each hemisphere
1. The Frontal Lobe; Located at the front center of
cortex, containing motor and speech, reasoning and
remembering. e.g, in class room giving answer to the
questions , you are using your frontal lobes.
2. The Parietal Lobe; It is responsible for interpreting
senses such as touch, pain and temperature.
3. The Temporal Lobe; It’s major function is related to
hearing e.g, when you hear someone talking, you
temporal lobes are operating
4. The Occipital Lobe; Located at the back of the brain.
It’s major function is related to vision e.g., occipital
lobes allow you to interpret what you see in the environment
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