The cerebrum contains the information that essentially makes us who we are: our intelligence, memory, personality, emotion, speech, and ability to feel and move. Specific areas of the cerebrum are in charge of processing these different types of information. These are called lobes, and there are four of them: the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes.
The cerebrum has right and left halves, called hemispheres. They're connected in the middle by a band of nerve fibers the corpus callosum that lets them communicate.
These halves may look like mirror images of each other, but many scientists believe they have different functions:. So when you're balancing your checkbook, you're using the left side. When you're listening to music, you're using the right side. It's believed that some people are more "right-brained" or "left-brained" while others are more "whole-brained," meaning they use both halves of their brain to the same degree.
The outer layer of the cerebrum is called the cortex also known as "gray matter". Information collected by the five senses comes into the brain to the cortex. This information is then directed to other parts of the nervous system for further processing. For example, when you touch the hot stove, not only does a message go out to move your hand but one also goes to another part of the brain to help you remember not to do that again.
In the inner part of the forebrain sits the thalamus, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland :. The midbrain, underneath the middle of the forebrain, acts as a master coordinator for all the messages going in and out of the brain to the spinal cord. The hindbrain sits underneath the back end of the cerebrum. It consists of the cerebellum, pons, and medulla. The cerebellum — also called the "little brain" because it looks like a small version of the cerebrum — is responsible for balance, movement, and coordination.
The pons and the medulla, along with the midbrain, are often called the brainstem. The brainstem takes in, sends out, and coordinates the brain's messages. It also controls many of the body's automatic functions, like breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, digestion, and blinking.
The basic workings of the nervous system depend a lot on tiny cells called neurons. The brain has billions of them, and they have many specialized jobs. For example, sensory neurons send information from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin to the brain.
Motor neurons carry messages away from the brain to the rest of the body. All neurons, however, relay information to each other through a complex electrochemical process, making connections that affect the way we think, learn, move, and behave. Intelligence, learning, and memory. As we grow and learn, messages travel from one neuron to another over and over, creating connections, or pathways, in the brain.
It's why driving takes so much concentration when someone first learns it, but later is second nature: The pathway became established. In young children, the brain is highly adaptable. In fact, when one part of a young child's brain is injured, another part often can learn to take over some of the lost function. But as we age, the brain has to work harder to make new neural pathways, making it harder to master new tasks or change set behavior patterns. That's why many scientists believe it's important to keep challenging the brain to learn new things and make new connections — it helps keeps the brain active over the course of a lifetime.
Read more on Australasian Menopause Society website. Authors' conclusions: Ropinirole therapy can reduce levodopa dose but at the expense of increased dyskinetic adverse events. The term headache refers to any pain in the head, face or neck area. Headaches are an extremely varied and common symptom of many conditions. In fact, about 15 per cent of Australians are estimated to be taking medication for a headache at any given time.
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Read more on Dementia Australia website. Healthdirect Australia is not responsible for the content and advertising on the external website you are now entering. Your nervous system controls much of what your body does. There is a total of 5 error s on this form, details are below.
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On this page What is the nervous system? What does the nervous system do? What are the common diseases in the nervous system? The main part of a neuron is called the cell body. It contains all of the important parts of the cell that allow it to function properly. Sensory neurons have dendrites on both ends and are connected by a long axon that has a cell body in the middle. Motor neurons have a cell body on one end and dendrites on the other end, with a long axon in the middle.
The human nervous system is divided into two parts. They are distinguished by their location in the body and include the central nervous system CNS and the peripheral nervous system PNS.
The CNS is located in the skull and vertebral canal of the spine. It includes the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. All remaining nerves in other parts of the body are part of the PNS. But it also has voluntary and involuntary nervous systems. The involuntary part of the PNS includes the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system tells the body to get ready for physical and mental activity. It causes the heart to beat harder and faster and opens the airways for easy breathing.
It also temporarily stops digestion so the body can focus on fast action. The parasympathetic nervous system controls bodily functions when a person is at rest. Some of its activities include stimulating digestion, activating metabolism, and helping the body relax. The body has its own nervous system that just controls the bowel. The enteric nervous system automatically regulates bowel movements as a part of digestion.
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