thanks for stopping by this is two minute classroom and today we're talking about the central nervous system versus the peripheral nervous system if you're new here welcome my goal is to save you time and reduce your stress as a student by simplifying difficult Concepts in only a few minutes so if you want to spend less time studying and stressing and improve your grades subscribe and now onto the nervous system let's start with the central nervous system or CNS the CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord the brain is made up of the cerebrum the cerebellum and the brain stem the cerebrum is divided into four major lobes the frontal lobe the temporal lobe the parietal lobe and the occipital lobe overall the cerebrum is responsible for our higher level nervous system function including memory emotion problem solving and reasoning movement and much much more the cerebellum sits on the back of the brain and plays a major role in movement balance and general motor control the brainstem sits at the base of the brain and connects the brain to the spinal cord it is responsible for regulatory processes like breathing blood pressure and eating the spinal cord is a vital part of the nervous system that runs from the base of the brain down through the back it acts as a communication pathway between the brain and the rest of the body the spinal cord also plays a key role in controlling movement and sensation and reflexes including the knee-jerk reflex now on to the peripheral nervous system the peripheral nervous system is the part of the nervous system that is outside the brain and spinal cord it includes all the nerves that reach every part of the body such as your limbs organs and other structures the pns is divided into two main parts the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system the somatic nervous system controls voluntary movement and sensation in the skin muscles and joints it is responsible for laying information from the brain to the skeletal muscles allowing us to move our Limbs and perform other voluntary actions the autonomic nervous system on the other hand controls automatic functions such as breathing heart rate and digestion it is responsible for allowing information from the brain to the internal organs allowing our body to function without conscious control the autonomic nervous system is further divided into two branches the sympathetic and the parasympathetic these two branches work in opposite ways the sympathetic branch increases active activity to the organs and the parasympathetic Branch decreases activity to the organs if you have a test coming up check out my test prep playlist or my helpful test prep resources in the description designed to help you take the stress out of tests and improve your grade I've also included some helpful study resources to help you learn more about the nervous system thanks for watching and I'll catch you next time