Stimulus & Response
What is a stimulus?
It is any action or change in our environment that we can feel.
What is the brain?
The central nervous system is made up of the spinal cord and this important organ located inside the skull.
What are neurons?
This is another name for the nerve cells that make up our nerves.
What is the pupil?
It is a small hole that lets light into the eye and appears black.
What is touch?
The skin is the sense organ for this sense, allowing us to feel pressure, temperature, and pain.
What is a motor response?
This type of response happens when your muscles move.
What is the cerebrum?
It is the largest part of the brain and controls thinking, memory, language, and voluntary responses.
What are dendrites?
Nerve impulses always enter a nerve cell through these small branch-like extensions.
What is the iris?
This is the coloured part of the eye. It is a muscle that controls the amount of light entering.
What are taste buds?
These small bumps on the tongue contain the receptor cells to detect different flavours.
What are internal stimuli?
These are changes that happen inside our body, like when our empty stomach tells the brain we are hungry.
What is the cerebellum?
This part of the brain is under the cerebrum and helps you to keep your balance and posture.
What is the axon?
This is the long part of the neuron that sends signals to other neurons or muscles.
What is the eardrum?
Sound waves go into the ear canal and hit this thin membrane, making it vibrate.
What is umami?
Along with sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, ham and cheese have this special fifth basic flavour.
What is a glandular response?
This type of response happens when organs called glands produce a substance, like sweat.
What is the brain stem?
It connects the brain to the spinal column and controls automatic functions like respiration and circulation.
What are motor nerves?
These nerves transmit signals from the central nervous system to the muscles.
What is the cochlea?
Vibrations reach this snail-shaped part of the ear where they are changed into electrical signals.
What are the epidermis and the dermis?
These are the two main layers of the skin: the outer layer and the inner layer.
What are reflexes (or involuntary movements)?
These are fast and automatic responses produced by the spinal cord.
What is the spinal cord?
It links the brain to the rest of the body, is protected by the spinal column, and controls reflexes.
What are mixed nerves?
These specific nerves can transmit signals in both directions, to and from the central nervous system.
What is the retina?
The lens projects an upside-down image onto this thin layer of optic cells at the back of the eye.
What is the olfactory nerve?
This specific nerve sends information from the nasal cavity directly to the brain, which interprets it as a smell.