Intergrative mechanism part 1 Neuronal control

Motor functions: control of sketelal muscle (movement, posture, maintaining tone) Sensory functions: vision, hearing, smell, taste, somatosensation– touch, pressure, vibration, pain, temperature Automatic functions: reflexes, control of circulation, respiration and digestion

• Cognition– thinking functions of the brain –learning, planning, problem-solving, memory and language. •Emotions– feelings • Consciousness– awareness of being a person

• Vascular disorders e.g. stroke, brain haemorrhage •Infectionse.g. meningitis, encephalitis, polio • Structural disorders e.g. brain or spinal cord injury or tumours, carpal tunnel syndrome • Nerve hyperactivity e.g. epilepsy, migraine • Degeneration e.g. Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease

All neurons have three basic functions: • Receive signals • Integrate incoming signals • Communicate signals to target cells • The interactions between multiple neurons is known as a neural circuitor network • Neural circuits:•process incoming information and carry out a response. • can be simple - composed of only a few neurons, or more complex - involving multiple neurons. • The nervous system consists of lots of neural circuits working together.

Afferent neurons: • transmit signals towards the Central Nervous System (CNS) • that connect to sense organs or directly respond to sensory stimulation are sensory neurons Efferent neurons: • transmit signals towards the periphery (i.e. away from the CNS) • that synapse with muscles are motor neurons • responsible for glandular secretion are sometimes termed secretomotor Interneurons (most cells): • transform input to output•make up the networks between afferent and efferent neurons An example of a neural circuit is the knee jerk reflex