Functions of the Nervous System

Categories of Functions

• Basic Functions
• Higher Functions

Basic Functions

Motor Functions

• Control of skeletal muscle
  • Causes movement, tone, and posture
• Involves cranial and spinal nerves
  • Cranial nerves: head and neck
  • Spinal nerves: limbs and trunk

Sensory Functions

• Involves all senses (more than five)
  • Vision
  • Hearing
  • Smell
  • Taste
  • Vestibular sense (inner ear)
  • Somatosensation
    • Touch
    • Position of body parts
    • Vibration
    • Pain
    • Temperature

Automatic Functions

• Do not require conscious involvement
  • Reflexes (e.g., knee-jerk reaction)
  • Control of body systems
    • Circulation
    • Respiration
    • Digestion

Higher Functions

Cognition

• Thinking functions
  • Learning
  • Memory
  • Language
  • Executive functions
    • Goal creation
    • Behavior organization

Emotions

• Feelings and their impacts on life experience and body functions

Consciousness

• Awareness of being a person
• Experiencing life and controlling actions
• Most poorly understood aspect of nervous system functions