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Co Ordination

The three main organs of the human nervous system are the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. The brain is located in the skull and is connected to the spinal cord, which runs down the backbone. Nerves branch out from the brain and spinal cord to all parts of the body. The nervous system can be divided into the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (nerves). Within the peripheral system are three types of nerves - cranial, spinal, and visceral. The nervous system detects stimuli through the senses and directs responses through reflexes and voluntary action.

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Balakrishnan Marappan
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19 views

Co Ordination

The three main organs of the human nervous system are the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. The brain is located in the skull and is connected to the spinal cord, which runs down the backbone. Nerves branch out from the brain and spinal cord to all parts of the body. The nervous system can be divided into the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (nerves). Within the peripheral system are three types of nerves - cranial, spinal, and visceral. The nervous system detects stimuli through the senses and directs responses through reflexes and voluntary action.

Uploaded by

Balakrishnan Marappan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Organs of Human Nervous System

The main organs of the nervous system are: Brain, Spinal cord and Nerves. The sense
organs like eyes, ears, tongue, nose and skin can be considered to be other organs of the
nervous system because they help in the functioning of the nervous system.

The brain is located inside the skull of our head. The spinal cord is a very thick nerve which runs
inside the cavity of backbone in our body.The upper end of spinal cord is attached to the brain.
The nerves are a kind of wires which are distributed all over our body. The brain and spinal
cord are connected to all the sense organs and other parts of our body by millions of
nerves.
There are mainly two types of nerves in our body: cranial nerves and spinal nerves. The
cranial nerves connect all the parts in the head directly to brain. The spinal nerves connect all the
remaining parts of the body (like muscles and skin, etc.) to the spinal cord. There is also a third
type of nerves called visceral nerves. Most of the visceral nerves connect the internal organs of
the body to spinal cord though some also connect to
brain.

The cranial nerves, spinal nerves and visceral nerves


are also of two types : sensory nerves and motor
nerves. The nerves which carry messages from the
body parts to the brain (or spinal cord) are called
sensory nerves. And the nerves which carry message
from the brain (or spinal cord) to the body parts for
action are called motor nerves.

This is how the nervous system works: When the


sense organ (like eyes, ears, tongue, nose, or skin) in
our body is affected, it sends the message to the brain
in the form of electrical impulses (called nerve
impulses) through the sensory neurons. The brain
analyses this message and decides the action to be
taken. The brain then sends out instructions to the
muscles of the concerned body part (for taking
necessary action) through motor nerves. The
concerned body part then acts according to the
instructions sent by the brain. Please note that in the
processing of complicated responses (which require thinking) both, the brain and spinal cord are
involved, but in the simple responses (which do not require thinking), the spinal cord alone is
involved.

The Parts of the Nervous System


The nervous system can be divided into two main parts :
1. Central nervous system (consisting of brain and spinal cord), and
2. Peripheral nervous system (consisting of all the nerves of the body like cranial nerves, spinal
nerves and visceral nerves).
The peripheral nervous system can be further divided into two parts:
(i) Voluntary nervous system (which is under voluntary control from the brain), and
(ii) Autonomic nervous system (which operates automatically or involuntarily).
The classification of nervous system into various parts is given in the following chart:

All the nerves of the body together make up the peripheral nervous system (PNS). They all
enter or leave the central nervous system. The three types of nerves which make up the
peripheral nervous system are spinal nerves, cranial nerves and visceral nerves. Spinal nerves
arise from the spinal cord along most of the length of the spinal cord and spread throughout the
body (except the head). They all carry both sensory and motor neurons and are described as
mixed nerves. Cranial nerves arise from the brain and spread throughout the head. They also
carry both sensory and motor neurons. The visceral nerves are a special kind of nerves which
mostly arise from the spinal cord (though some also arise from the brain). They are connected to
the internal organs of the body. Visceral nerves also carry both sensory and motor neurons.

Reflex Action and Reflex Arcs


The simplest form of response in the nervous system is reflex action. This is a rapid,
automatic response to a stimulus which is not under the voluntary control of the brain. It is
described as an involuntary action. Thus, a reflex action is one which we perform
automatically.

If we unknowingly touch a hot plate, we immediately move our hand away from it. So, moving
our hand away on touching a hot plate is an example of reflex action. Similarly, moving our
foot away when we step on
something sharp, is also an
example of reflex action. A
knee jerk, movement of
diaphragm (during respiration),
coughing, yawning, blinking of
eyes and sneezing are all reflex
actions. In a reflex action, we
are unaware that anything is
going to happen to us. Reflex
actions are the actions which
we do without thinking to
protect ourselves. For example,
coughing is a reflex action
which clears our windpipe. The
pupils of our eyes get smaller in
bright light. This reflex action protects the retina of our eyes from damage due to too much light.
The pupils of our eyes get bigger in dim light so as to help us see properly even in dim light.

The pathway (or route) taken by nerve impulses in a reflex action is called the reflex arc.
Reflex arcs allow rapid response. We will explain the meaning of a reflex arc by taking an
example.

A reflex action is an automatic response to a stimulus. An example of the way in which we


respond to a stimulus is our reaction to touching a hot object (like a hot plate). Very quickly, and
without thinking about it, we pull our hand away. This sort of very fast, automatic response is
called the reflex action. The pathway taken by the nerve impulses in this reflex action. The
stimulus here is the heat which we feel in our hand on touching the hot plate. This heat is sensed
by a heat receptor (or thermo receptor) in our hand. The receptor triggers an impulse in a sensory
neuron, which transmits the message to the spinal cord. Here, the impulse is passed on to a relay
neuron, which in turn, passes it to a motor neuron. The motor neuron passes the impulse to a
muscle in our arm. The muscle then contracts and pulls our hand away from the hot plate. The
muscle of arm is an effector because it responds to the
stimulus. This pathway along which the impulse travels is
called the reflex arc. The reflexes of this type which
involve only the spinal cord are called spinal reflexes.

Though spinal reflexes are produced in the spinal cord but


the message of reflex action taken also goes on to reach
the brain. Please note that when we lift a hot plate, then
along with heat, the pain produced by heat also acts as a
‘stimulus’. Most of the reflex actions involve only the
spinal cord. They are called spinal reflexes.

Those reflex actions which involve brain are called cerebral reflexes. Cerebral reflexes occur
in the organs present in the head because these organs are directly connected to the brain. Our
eyes are present in the head. In dim light, the pupil (a hole in the front of eye) is large so that
more light can enter into the eye and make us see properly even in dim light. Now, when a bright
light shines into our eye, then the pupil of our eye automatically becomes smaller (and prevents
the damage to the retina of eye from too much light). The contraction of pupil of our eye
automatically in the presence of bright light is an example of cerebral reflex.

When a bright light falls on the eye, the


light receptors in the eye produce
impulses in the sensory nerves. The
sensory nerves carry this message in the
form of electrical impulses to the brain. The brain produces the response (that the amount of light
entering the eye must be reduced). The response produced by the brain is carried by motor
nerves to the circular muscles of the iris of the eye. The circular muscles of the iris of the eye
contract and reduce the size of the pupil (or hole) of the eye. As the size of pupil becomes
smaller, the amount of light entering the eye is reduced. All this happens very, very quickly.
Please note that though the pupil is a circular opening (or hole) in the centre of the iris of the eye
but it appears to be dark because no light is reflected from it

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