Nervous system

Parts of the nervous system:

• Central nervous system - a bilateral, essentially symmetrical structure with distinct parts. Receives sensory information from the skin through bundles of long nerve fibers, called axons, and transforms it into coordinated motor commands that are relayed to the muscles for action through other bundles of nerves
  • Spinal cord - contains the machinery needed for simple reflex behaviors.
  • Brain stem - conveys sensory information to higher regions of the brain and motor commands from those regions downward to the spinal cord. Also regulates attention.
  • Brain:
    • Hypothalamus
    • Thalamus
    • Cerebellum
    • Cerebral Hemispheres/ Cerebral Cortex - concerned with higher mental functions: perception, action, language, and planning
      • Basal ganglia - help regulate motor performance
      • Hippocampus - involved with aspects of memory storage
      • Amygdala - coordinates autonomic and endocrine responses in the context of emotional states