Motor Neurons

Give signals for muscles to

respond

Medulla

Connects brain to spinal column

Controls involuntary actions

Spinal Cord

Path that nerve impulses travel to and from the brain

Sensory Neurons

Receive stimuli from the environment

Nerve Impulse

Message carried through your body

by nerve cells

Cerebrum

Largest part of the brain

used for thinking, memories, decisions, emotions, and attitudes

Cerebellum

Second largest part of the brain

controls coordination (our sense of balance)

Brain Stem

Connects your brain to the spinal column

Stimuli

Signals in the environment that start a nerve impulse

Nerves

Bundles of neurons

Neurons

Nerve cells

Nervous System

Consists of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves

Senses

Collect information from your environment so your brain can analyze it and decide on the proper

action for your body

Sense Receptors

Receive stimuli from the environment

found in the skin, tongue, nose, eyes, and ears

Skin

 Body's largest organ

sense of touch

senses texture, heat, cold, pain, and pressure

Tongue

receptors called taste buds respond to bitter, sweet, salty, and sour

Nose

receptors sense chemical particles

floating in the air

brain uses memory bank to interpret the smells

Eyes

vision is the result of receptors in the eyes

light enters the lens, focuses an image on the retina at the back of the eye, the retina sends nerve impulses to the brain along the optic nerve.

you "see" with your brain

Ears

the outer ear collects sound waves

the ear canal funnels them to the eardrum

the auditory nerve carries the nerve impulse

to the brain

Reflex

The automatic reaction to a stimulus

Brain Waves

nerve impules from your brain

can be measured and recorded