...he function of nervous system is to coordinate the activities of our body. It is the control system for all our actions, thinking and behaviour. The nervous system helps all other systems of our body to work together.The nervous system is like a manager inside our body. Its job is to control and coordinate the parts of our body so that they work together, doing their job at the right time. Our nervous system coordinates muscles so that we can do things which need thinking like reading, writing, cycling or dancing. The nervous system also coordinates things which we don't have to think about, like heart beat and breathing. The human nervous system receives information from the surroundings, processes it, interprets it and then responds accordingly. The nervous system also passes information from one internal system to another. For example, as soon as we put food in our mouth, it immediately causes the release of saliva from the salivary glands. The Unit of Nervous System: Neuron : The units which make up the nervous system are called nerve cells or neurons. So, neuron is the structural and functional unit of the nervous system. We can now say that nervous system is made of special cells called neurons. Neuron is the largest cell in the body (which looks like an electric wire). Neurons contain the same basic parts as any other animal cell but their structure is specially adapted to be able to carry messages over large distances in the body quickly. The neurons carry...
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...of Psychology PSY/300 General Psychology June 3, 2013 Foundations of Psychology Modern psychology combines four major and distinct schools of thought, with each one containing possessing fundamental assumptions. Even though each individual perspectives maintains it distinction and individuality, they all have made influences to the developing science of psychology. (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). While they each focus on a different domain and function, each of them remain intertwined and attempt to answer basic questions of how the body and mind work together. The Four Major Psychological Perspectives The Psychodynamic Perspective The psychodynamic perspective was developed in the late nineteenth century by Sigmund Freud. He concluded that psychodynamic perspective has three key premises: 1. “People’s actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings, and wishes are connected in their minds. 2. Many of these mental events occur outside of conscious awareness. 3. These mental processes may conflict with one another, leading to compromises among competing motives.” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011) The Psychological Perspective remains to this day heavily debated with physiologist supporting its study and other calling for its abandonment. The Behaviorist Perspective The Behaviorist Perspective was developed by accident, early in the twentieth century by Ivan Pavlov. McLeod (2007) “Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior...
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...The Science of Psychology Foundations of Psychology Suzette Lee [ Monday, April 02, 2012 ] PSY300 Psychology is a scientific study that investigates the main components of the brain, the mind and the body in different fields of psychology in order to understand and conduct observations of the mental process of the human mind, and observable behavior. Psychology is often used to understand the unknown of human behavior, and their potential patterns that observe the actions of self expression on how people feel and store memory. The study of the mind is an observation of a person’s mental awareness of both the conscious and unconscious mentality. Structuralism was the dominant school of psychology in Germany and the U. S. between1890-1920, and was the school of thought based on the notion that the object of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related. Structuralism explores areas of the mind, focus mainly with sensation and perception in vision, hearing and, touch through introspection, or the systematic observation of one’s own conscious experiences, although Functionalism was the protest against structuralism and had the assumption that functionalism was more practical and concerned with commonsense issues, structuralism believed that mental functions were not subject to introspective analysis which it was the shaping of the mind that could be analyzed. Another school of thought is behaviorism, in which...
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...granulomatous disease: Any disease in which the growth of minute blood vessels and connective tissue can be observed. hematopoiesis: It is the creation and development of blood cells inside our body. intracellular: that which occurs within a cell mitochondria: These are cytoplasmic organelles that are spherical or rod shaped and are called the powerhouse of a cell as they are concerned with ATP synthesis. nondiscocytes: These are abnormal and less flexible red blood cells which lack the typical disc shape of a red blood cell and occurs due to magnesium deficiency. pharyngitis: Inflammation of the pharynx characterized by symptoms like sore throat. endergonic: any reaction that needs a good amount of external energy to progress. endocrine system: The system of glands that are responsible to control metabolism and other physiological processes through the secretion of hormones into the blood circulation. exergonic: any reaction that causes the release of energy into the external environment. gastroesophageal junction: also known as cardia, is the part that falls at the junction of the distal part of esophagus and the proximal part of the...
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...Anatomy of the Nervous System 3 Systems, Structures, and Cells That Make Up Your Nervous System 3.1 General Layout of the Nervous System 3.4 Spinal Cord 3.2 Cells of the Nervous System 3.5 Five Major Divisions of the Brain 3.3 Neuroanatomical Techniques and Directions 3.6 Major Structures of the Brain ISBN 0-558-78571-9 Biopsychology, Eighth Edition, by John P.J. Pinel. Published by Allyn & Bacon. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. 3.1 ■ General Layout of the Nervous System I n order to understand what the brain does, it is first necessary to understand what it is—to know the names and locations of its major parts and how they are connected to one another. This chapter introduces you to these fundamentals of brain anatomy. Before you begin this chapter, I want to apologize for the lack of foresight displayed by early neuroanatomists in their choice of names for neuroanatomical structures— but, then, how could they have anticipated that Latin and Greek, universal languages of the educated in their day, would not be compulsory university fare in our time? To help you, I have provided the literal English meanings of many of the neuroanatomical terms, and I have kept this chapter as brief, clear, and to the point as possible, covering only the most important structures. The payoff for your effort will be a fundamental understanding of the structure of the human brain and a new vocabulary to discuss...
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...signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look "thinner" as muscle tissue atrophies. ALS is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Lou Gehrig was the one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game but he had his career cut short when he was diagnosed with ALS. Just...
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...Psychology Janee Moore University of Phoenix History and Systems of Psychology PSY/310 Michael Hardin May 11, 2014 History of Psychology The history of psychology goes back thousands of years to the early Greeks. The roots of psychology are closely related to philosophy. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. The early Greeks such as Aristotle believed “The heart was the seat of the mind”, and the brain was more so a filter to calm heat the heart produced. While the philosopher and physician Hippocrates believed “The brain was the seat of sensation as well as intellect”. Investigation and dissection of minds belonging to abnormal beings lead to many controversial beliefs. The beginning of modern philosophy is said to be led by Rene’ Descartes. Descartes was considered the father of modern philosophy, mathematics, physiology, and psychology. In 1633 Descartes wrote a book titled “The World”, demonstrating how various disciplines could be united through reason of mathematics. He failed to publish his book at that time to stay in good graces of the Catholic Church. Descartes’ Discourse on Method was not relevant until after his death. His Discourse on Method expressed to accept truth only to what could not be doubted. This begot the Cartesian System of Rationalism, Nativism and Mechanistic Interactionism. The Cartesian system simply meant to think clearly, logically, and without...
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...SMOKE Do you smoke? If you do it you never imagine the serious consequences that it would bring to your life. My Psychology class helped me to understand and think better about the damage of drugs, and how affect our central nervous system. Tobacco is a psychoactive drug with chemicals that affect our nervous system and, as a result, may alter consciousness and awareness, influence how we sense and perceive things, and modify our moods, feelings, emotions, and thoughts. In our days is very common to see people smoking; it is a widely used addictive drug, that alters cognitive processes, which include effects on attention and impulsivity, a mechanism that may contribute to the addictive properties of the drug. Everyone have the right to think, analyze, and have their opinion, but I want to share with you a message, a story of my best friend where she suffered a disease and began a new life. All began a holiday day where our friends, among laughers, invited her to smoke her first cigarette and to learn like them. Then she came to smoke one after other cigarettes every day, until she gets to smoke three daily packs. Today I understand why she continued to smoke. She had an addiction to nicotine. My textbook said about addiction:” refers to a behavioral pattern of drug abuse that is marked by an overwhelming and compulsive desire to obtain and use drug; even after stopping, the person has a strong tendency to relapse and begin using the drug again”. My friend had become dependent...
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...structure and function in living things. * May serve a specific function within the organism * Examples- blood cells, nerve cells, bone cells, etc. | LEVEL 2 - Tissues * Made up of cells that are similar in structure and function and which work together to perform a specific activity * Examples - blood, nervous, bone, etc. Humans have 4 basic tissues: connective, epithelial, muscle, and nerve. | LEVEL 3 - Organs * Made up of tissues that work together to perform a specific activity * Examples - heart, brain, skin, etc. | LEVEL4 - Organ Systems * Groups of two or more tissues that work together to perform a specific function for the organism. * Examples - circulatory system, nervous system, skeletal system, etc. * The Human body has 11 organ systems - circulatory, digestive, endocrine, excretory (urinary), immune(lymphatic), integumentary, muscular, nervous, reproductive, respiratory, and skeletal. | LEVEL 5 - Organisms * Entire living things that can carry out all basic life processes. Meaning they can take in materials, release energy from food, release wastes, grow, respond to the environment, and reproduce. * Usually made up of organ systems, but an organism may be made up of only one cell such as bacteria or protist. * Examples - bacteria, amoeba, mushroom, sunflower, human | Levels of Structural Organization in the human body The human body has 6 main levels of structural organization. We will begin this lesson with the simplest level within...
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...dates back before medical records were recorded. In the sixteenth century, anxiety was known as hysteria. Professional had different opinions on the cause of this disorder, for example, witchcraft, had to do with the uterus until men were found to have the same condition, the person is a hypochondriac, and demons were entering the body. In the eighteenth century panic disorder was known as the “nervous illness." Today we know that panic attacks are a sudden urge of overwhelming fear and anxiety. There are many myths that surround panic attacks such as it is all in one’s head, it is not a real illness, make one face the fear head on, a sign that one is going insane. Other myths include that one will be on medication for the rest of their life, cause internal damage as a heart attack would, there is no treatment, and it is as an excuse. These types of rumors or beliefs can cause one to not seek professional help. Past treatments for anxiety in eighteen seventies were to refrain from exercise as anxiety was considered to be nervous exhaustion and it was straining the nervous system. Other harsher treatments were strychnine, arsenic, and quinine. For severe cases, a hot white iron was applied to the spine. In the year nineteen twenty, exposure to the fear, and radionics was used. It was believed that it vibrated healthy energy to unhealthy body parts. In the year nineteen seventy Aaron Beck founded the cognitive behavior theory (CBT). This treatment suggested that patience...
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...Glutamate- plays a role in memory, is the effect on the synaptic plasticity * GABA- moderates behaviors from eating to aggression, increases the amount of human growth hormone * Dopamine- involved in movement, attention, and learning * Serotonin- associated with the regulation of sleep, eating, and pain, it also improves and contributes to moods * Endorphins- involved in the brain’s effort to deal with pain and elevate mood Write one – two sentence descriptions of the following: * Nervous system- is made up of the central nervous system. Network of nerve cells and fibers that transmit nerve impulses between parts of the body. * Endocrine system- secretes hormones, chemicals that regulate the functioning of the body, via the bloodstream. * Central core- consists of the brain and spinal cord, help regulate basic life processes, including breathing, pulse, arousal, movement, balance, sleep, and the early stage of processing sensory information. * Limbic system- found on the border of the old and new brain, is associated with eating, aggression, reproduction, and experiences of pleasure and pain. * Cerebral cortex- the new brain, has areas that control voluntary movement (the motor area) the senses (sensory area), and thinking, reasoning, speech, and memory (the association areas). Write a “test question” about neuroplasticity. [What is a question you...
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...Moreover, modernizing resources results in the increase in the available, accessible information for the community. Since the beginning of the century, online science journals have made the scientific community cohesive by providing with the most up to date findings for research being conducted in particular fields as well as all are new ways to “interact” amongst individuals. For this report we have chosen four online resources that provide information on the area of biomolecular biology and neurology, we will enumerate their usefulness to our particular field of interest and their incidence in our future professional careers. In the 1850’s, an Austrian monk Gregor Mendel discovered that he can manipulate plant offspring to breed plants selectively with traits that he wished to see; he cross-bred two tall pea plants and found that the offspring almost certainly expressed the "tall" feature. At the time, the scientific community was ignorant with genetic and DNA comprehension, but Mendel's work would prove to be a precursor to Darwin's evolutionary theory and eventually a foundation for all medical practice performed today. While our understanding of genetics is superb at best, new ideas and practices keep the medical field in constant progression. "Gene Editing Could Make Pig-to-Human Organ...
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...as rats and mice, and non-human primates) which have implications for better understanding of human pathology and therefore contribute to evidence-based practice. II. Application: To apply this branch of psychology, we should have knowledge on these three biological perspective and consider them to understand the behavior of a person, animal or of an organism. The biological perspective which is relevant to the study of psychology in three ways: 1. Comparative method: different species of animal can be studied and compared. This can help in the search to understand human behavior. 2. Physiology: how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions, how changes in structure and/or function can affect behavior. For example, we could ask how prescribed drugs to treat depression affect behavior through their interaction with the nervous system. 3. Investigation of inheritance: what an animal inherits from its parents, mechanisms of inheritance (genetics). For example, we might want to know whether high intelligence is inherited from one generation to the next. III. Significance Biological aspects, the comparative, the physiological and the genetic, can help explain human behavior that the behavior can be largely explained in terms of biology (example: genes/hormones)....
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...Depressant Drugs: Alcohol, Benzodiazepines, Barbiturates and other central nervous system depressant drugs act on a neurotransmitter substance known as GABA (Gamma Aminobutyric Acid). GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that makes other neurons less likely to work making it harder for your nervous system to get excited. Stimulant Drugs: Amphetamines affects the neurotransmitter Dopamine. Amphetamines both cause Dopamine-producing neurons to let more Dopamine out than normal, and keep that Dopamine in the brain longer than it normally would. Cocaine blocks the re-uptake of the neurotransmitters Dopamine and Serotonin. Cannabinoids: Marijuana has complicated effects. It acts on the neurotransmitters Serotonin, Dopamine and...
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...they are able to lift themselves up by using their arms. By 6 to 12 months of age, infants start to gain leg control and may be able to crawl, stand, or walk. Coordination of arms always precedes coordination of legs. Development depends on maturation and learning. Maturation refers to the sequential characteristic of biological growth and development. The biological changes occur in sequential order and give children new abilities. Changes in the brain and nervous system account largely for maturation. These changes in the brain and nervous system help children to improve in thinking (cognitive) and motor (physical) skills. Also, children must mature to a certain point before they can progress to new skills (Readiness). For example, a four-month-old cannot use language because the infant's brain has not matured enough to allow the child to talk. By two years old, the brain has developed further and with help from others, the child will have the capacity to say and understand words. Also, a child can't write or draw until he has developed the motor control to hold a pencil or crayon. Maturational patterns are innate, that is, genetically programmed. The child's environment and the learning that occurs as a result of the child's experiences largely determine whether the child will reach optimal development. A stimulating environment...
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