IGCSE Double Award Extended Coordinated Science
Biology 7.1 - Nervous Control in Humans
Nervous System
You need to know how the human nervous system works.
There are two nervous systems, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS)
- The CNS is the brain and the spinal cord, where they control actions
- The PNS is all the other organs that are connected to the CNS.
The CNS and the PNS work together to coordinate body functions.
- They have neurons which are specialised cells to send electrical signals.
Nervous response flow (reflex arc)
Stimulus -> Sensory Neuron -> Relay Neuron -> Motor Neuron -> Effector
This response is called a reflex action, because the brain does not make any decisions (involuntary response).
- It is a very quick, automatic response by the body.
An example of these response is touching a hot object, your body reacts without your brain thinking.
- Stimulus
- Something that triggers a nervous response (e.g. hot plate, sharp needle)
- Sensory Neuron
- A neuron that detects a stimulus and converts it into an electrical signal (in the PNS)
- They are found in sensory organs, like eyes (light), skin (touch), etc.
- Electrical signal is sent to the CNS (usually the spinal cord, as it is the closest to the other organs)
- Relay Neuron
- A neuron that is found in the CNS which relays the signal out of the CNS to the motor neuron.
- It connects the receptor to the motor neuron.
- Motor Neuron
- A neuron that receives the signal from the relay neuron and tells the muscles to move.
- Effector
- The organ that actually does the “action” that receives the signal from the motor neuron.
- Usually a muscle (to move the body)
This type of reflex arc does not have to go all the way up to the brain to be processed
- Meaning the reflex speed is very fast so it can protect the body faster
Structure of a Motor Neuron
As a neuron is a specialised cell, it has all the organelles of a normal animal cell, (cytoplasm, nucleus etc.)
The cell body is inside the CNS, and the axon stretches out into the PNS to the effector.
- Dendrites receive the signals from the relay neuron
- Axon carries the signal outwards, and is covered by myelin sheaths, an electrical insulating cover.
- Nerve Endings send the message to trigger effectors.
You need to know the structure of the eye, a sensory organ.
- Conjunctiva - layer that protects the cornea
- Cornea - the tough transparent part of the outer surface of the eye to allow light through.
- Iris - Aperture like ring that controls the amount of light that is let into the lens
- Pupil - the hole in the middle of the iris that changes size.
- Aqueous humour - the liquid part in the front part of the eye
- Lens - focuses the incoming light, can change thickness according to the distance of focus of vision
- Ciliary body - muscles that pull the lens to make it thinner or thicker.
- Suspensory ligament - Ligaments that connect the ciliary body to the lens.
- Vitreous humour - the major liquid that forms the volume of the eye.
- Retina - The inner surface of the eye where the many light receptors (sensory neurons) are.
- Choroid - the layer between the retina and the sclera
- Fovea - most of the light is focused onto this point in the retina (most densely arranged receptor)
- Optic nerve - sense the signal back to the brain
- Blind spot - at this point, there are no light receptors, because the optic nerve is taking up the space.
- Sclera - the tough outside protection layer of the eye.
The eye can change the thickness of the lens to change the focus of the vision.
- This is called accommodation
- This is done by altering the lens’ amount of refraction of light.
Object Ciliary muscles Suspensory ligaments Muscle tension on the lens Lens shape
Near Contracted Slackened Low Fat, more curved
Distant Relaxed Stretched High Thin, less curved
The eye also adapts to the environment by changing the size of the pupil.
- This is called pupil reflex
- During dim light, the pupils dilate to allow more light in.
- During bright light, the pupils contracts to let less light in.
- This is done by the iris contracting and relaxing.
The syllabus says you should be able to, (SO check if you can):
- Describe the human nervous system in terms of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord as areas
of coordination) and the peripheral nervous system which together serve to coordinate and regulate body
functions.
- Identify motor (effector), relay (connector) and sensory neurones from diagrams.
- Describe a simple reflex arc in terms of sensory, relay and motor neurones, and a reflex action as a means
of automatically and rapidly integrating and coordinating stimuli with responses.
- Describe the structure and function of the eye, including accommodation and pupil reflex.