PSYC 2410 Study Guide - Occipital Lobe, Striatum, Brainstem
6 Apr 2013
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Document Summary
Divisions of the ns: human ns consists of the pns (outside skull and spine) and cns (brain + spinal cord). Somatic nervous system (sns) part that interacts with the external environment. Composed of afferent nerves that carry sensory information from the skin, skeletal muscles, joints, eyes, ears, etc. to the cns. Autonomic nervous system (ans) part that regulates the body"s internal environment. Composed of afferent nerves that carry sensory signals from internal organs to the cns and efferent nerves that carry motor signals from the cns to internal organs. Each autonomic target organ receives opposing sumpathetic and parasympathetic input. Sympathetic changes are indicative of psychological arousal, whereas parasympathetic changes are indicative of psychological relaxation: sympathetic nerves are autonomic motor nerves that project from the cns in the lumbar and thoracic regions of the spinal cord. Sympathetic neurons synapse on second-stage neurons at a substantial distance from their target organs.
