Sunday, July 8, 2007

Central Nervous System

The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The central nervous system is where sensory information is received and motor control is initiated.

The spinal cord extends from the base of the brain to what we call our tail bone. The role of the spinal cord is to provide a means of communication between the brain and our peripheral nerves. When the brain initiates involuntarily control over our limbs, motor impulses pass down the descending tracts in the spinal cord and out to our muscles by way of motor fibers. That is why when someone severs their spinal cord it results in paralysis.

The brain contains more than 100 billion neurons. The brain contains four lobes: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and the occipital lobe.

The frontal lobe is where the primary motor function takes place, also plays a part in impulse control, judgement, parts of speech and emotions just to name a few. People with injury to their frontal lobe may suffer from paralysis, the inability to complete a sequence of complex movements, have trouble focusing, mood swings, difficulty problem solving and the inability to verbally express themselves.

The parietal lobe associated with movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli. An injurt to this section could cause a person to have trouble drawing, naming an object, trouble with math, lack of awareness with certain body parts, inability to focus and trouble with hand/eye coordination.

The temporal lobes functions are hearing, speech, memory and emotional responsiveness. Injury to this lobe could result in difficulty in recognizing faces, trouble understanding spoken words, agressive behavior, and short term memory loss just to name a few.

Lastly, we have the occipital lobe. The occipital lobe is the visual processing center. Injury to this lobe could result in vision difficulty, hallucinations, trouble distinquishing colors, and difficulty with reading and writing.

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