NSE 13A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Central Nervous System, Spinothalamic Tract, Posterior Pituitary
Document Summary
Central nervous system (cns) includes the brain and spinal cord. Peripheral nervous system (pns) includes the 12 pairs of cranial nerves, the 31 pairs of spinal nerves, and all their branches. The pns carries sensory (afferent) messages to the cns from sensory receptors, motor (efferent) messages from the. Cns out to muscles and glands, and autonomic messages that govern the internal organs and blood vessels. Cerebral cortex (cerebrum) is the centre for humans" highest functions, governing thought, memory, reasoning, sensation, and voluntary movement. Each half of the cerebrum is a hemisphere; the left hemisphere is dominant in about 95% of right- handed people, and in many who are left-handed. The frontal lobe has areas concerned with personality, behaviour, emotions, and intellectual function: broca"s area in the frontal lobe mediates motor speech. When it is injured in the dominant hemisphere, expressive aphasia results; the person cannot talk.
