Stimulus/Response
What do we call anything the body senses?
A stimulus
What is the basic unit of the nervous system?
A neuron (nerve cell)
Which type of neuron sends information from our senses to the brain or spinal cord?
sensory neurons
What are the three main parts of the brain?
The cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem
Which lobe, at the very back of the brain, is responsible for vision?
Occipital Lobe
Which type of receptor detects light, and where is it found?
Photoreceptors, found in the eyes
Approximately how many neurons are in the brain alone?
86 billion
Which type of neuron carries messages from the CNS to muscle cells, producing movement?
Motor neurons (also called efferent neurons)
Which is the largest part of the brain, and what kinds of actions does it control?
The cerebrum. It controls voluntary actions such as memory, speech and conscious thought.
Which lobe is at the front of the brain and deals with emotions, reasoning, movement and problem solving?
Frontal Lobe
In the pathway Stimulus → Receptor → ______ → Effector → Response, what is missing?
The control centre (usually the brain)
Which part of the neuron receives chemical signals from other neurons?
The dendrites
Which type of neuron links sensory and motor neurons, and where are these neurons found?
Interneurons (connector neurons), found in the brain and spinal cord
Which part of the brain, nicknamed the “little brain”, controls balance and coordinates your muscles?
The cerebellum
Which lobe manages the perception of touch, taste, pain, pressure and temperature?
Parietal Lobe
Which type of receptor detects mechanical forces such as pressure or vibrations, and where might you find it?
Mechanoreceptors, found in the ears, arms and hands (the body)
What is the job of the myelin sheath, and what is it made of?
It insulates the axon and speeds up the electrical impulse. It is made of fat and protein.
What is the small gap between neurons called, and what chemicals cross it?
The synapses - neurotransmitters cross it
Which part of the brain controls involuntary actions, and name two examples.
The brain stem. Examples include heartbeat, pulse, digestion, breathing and coughing.
Which lobe is near your ears and deals with recognising sounds and smells, and is also involved in memory?
Temporal Lobe
A girl smells a rotting bin and covers her nose. What is the stimulus, which receptor detects it, and what is the response?
Stimulus: a bad smell (chemicals). Receptor: chemoreceptors in the nose. Response: covering her nose.
Name the three main parts of a neuron in the order the message travels through them, and state which direction the impulse is sent relative to the cell body.
Dendrites → cell body → axon. Impulses are sent away from the cell body.
Describe how a message travels from a sensory neuron to a muscle that responds, including what happens at the end of each neuron.
The sensory neuron passes the message to an interneuron, which passes it to a motor neuron, which causes the muscle to respond. At the end of each neuron, neurotransmitters are released from the axon terminal and cross the synapse to the next neuron’s dendrites.
Which brain part is mainly responsible for each action: (a) balancing on a surfboard, (b) giving a speech, (c) your heart beating?
(a) Cerebellum, (b) cerebrum, (c) brain stem
A student hears a song, remembers it from childhood and then sings along. Name two lobes involved and what each one does.
Temporal lobe (hearing and memory) and frontal lobe (speech and movement)