Transcript for:
Understanding the Nervous System

[Music] the Great and Mighty nervous system or the brain as most of us call it what makes this organ unique is that within it lies the ability for humans to know oneself this feature distinguishes and sets the human species apart from the rest of creation this ability is known as Consciousness or intelligence to begin let's look at the primary function of the nervous system the basic purpose is to coordinate all of the activities of the body it enables the body to respond and adapt to changes that occur both inside and outside the body now the nervous system is actually split into two parts the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system we'll explore the peripheral later but first let's look at the central nervous system the central nerv nervous system is made up of two major structures the brain and the spinal cord as most people know the brain is found within the cranium or skull and there are six main sections among other structures within it these six sections are the cerebrum cerebellum diyon the midbrain ponds and the medulla oblongata the first section is the cerebrum this is the largest section it's divided into two major hemispheres which are the right and left hemisphere and the cerebrum is further divided into four loes these four loes are the frontal the parietal the temporal and the occipital the frontal lobe is primarily responsible for reasoning and thought the parl is primarily responsible for integrating sensory information the temporal is primarily responsible for processing auditory information from the ears and the occipital is primarily responsible for processing visual information from the [Music] eyes the second section of the brain is the cerebellum this is the section located in the back of the head below the cerebrum and above the first cervical of the neck it is responsible for muscle coordination balance posture and muscle tone the Dian sephylon section is found between the cereum in the midbrain it contains two structures the thalamus and the hypothalamus the thalamus behaves much like a relay station and directs sensory impulses to the cerebrum and the hypothalamus controls and regulates autonomic nervous system functions such as temperature appetite water balance sleep and blood vessel constriction and dilation the hypothalamus also plays a role in the emotions such as anger fear pleasure pain and defection the midbrain section is located below the cerebrum at the top of the brain stem it is responsible for certain eye and auditory reflexes the pawns is located below the midbrain and in the brain stem it is responsible for certain reflex actions such as chewing tasting and saliva production and the last section is the medulla oblongata it's the lowest part of the brain stem and it connects with the spinal cord and is responsible for regulating heart and blood vessel function digestion respiration swallowing coughing in sneezing and blood pressure it's also known as the center for respiration now that we've covered the brain let's take a look at the other half of the central nervous system the spinal cord the spinal cord is the link between the brain and the nerves and the rest of the body the spinal cord is divided into four different regions the cervical thoracic Lumbar and the aparent and efferent spinal nerves which merge to form the peripheral nerves the aparent spinal nerves are responsible for carrying information from the body to the brain and the efference spinal nerves are responsible for carrying information from the brain to the body now within this elaborate system of nerves neurons and dendrites there is a system that regulates the functions of the central nervous system which lie outside its major components such as the brain and the spinal cord this system is known as the peripheral nervous system and is subdivided into two smaller systems the sematic system and the autonomic nervous system the sematic nervous system is responsible for carrying motor and sensory information both to and from the central nervous system this system is made up of nerves that connect to the skin sensory organs and all skeletal muscles the sematic system is also responsible for nearly all voluntary muscle movements as well as for processing sensory information that arrives via external stimuli including hearing touch and sight the structures that allow this communication to happen between the nerves throughout the body and the central nervous system are are known as the afferent Sensory neurons and the efferent motor neurons now afferent simply means conducting Inward and efferent means conducting outward so just like in the spinal nerves the afferent neurons take information from the nerves to the central nervous system and the efferent neurons take information from the central nervous system to the muscle fibers throughout the body the autonomic nervous system is further divided into the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system the sympathetic nervous system is vital to our survival have you ever heard of the fight or flight response to Danger the sympathetic nervous system revs up the body when confronted with imminent danger to either defend yourself or to escape the threat the parasympathetic nervous system is the counterbalance to the sympathetic response to D danger whether real or imagined once the thread is gone the parasympathetic brings all the systems of the body back to normal now at this point you should have a basic understanding of the nervous system but let's do a quick recap the basic purpose of the nervous system is to coordinate all the activities of the body it enables the body to respond and adapt to changes that occur both inside and outside the body body the two major parts to the nervous system are the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system the central nervous system is also divided into two major structures the brain and the spinal cord the brain is found within the skull or Cranium and it is made up of six main sections these six sections are the cerebrum cerebellum diyon the midbrain ponds and the medulla oblongata the other half of the central nervous system is the spinal cord and the spinal cord is the link between the brain and the nerves and the rest of your body the spinal cord is divided into four different regions the cervical thoracic Lumbar and afferent and efferent spinal nerves which merge to form the peripheral nerves now that we know the brain and spinal cord primarily make up the central nervous system let's look at the peripheral nervous system the peripheral nervous system is essentially the nervous system outside of the brain and spinal cord the peripheral nervous system is then subdivided into two smaller systems called the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system so as you can see the nervous system is quite complex and this is just a tip of the iceberg thanks for watching look for more videos on the nervous system at 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