DBH3 E2.

2 COORDINATION & THE SENSES STUDY NOTES

<<<<<<1. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM>>>>>>

Function: to control and coordinate the body organs; To control and coordinate the basic life
processes; to transmit messages from one part of your body to another
Neurons: Messenger cells in your nervous system
Nerve impulses: Electrical signals carrying messages
Neurotransmitters: Chemicals released by one neuron to excite a neighbouring one

A. Central nervous system (CNS):

The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system or CNS. The CNS is also
a network made up of 100 billion of neurons which communicate at special junctions using
chemicals called neurotransmitters between one neuron and another.

Its job is to coordinate the messages travelling through the nervous system by nerves and
nerve cells = neurons. A complex CNS allows complex behaviour. It allows us to make more
‘intelligent’ responses than just reflex actions. Animals need to vary their behaviour under
different conditions. The brain is the operational centre of the nervous system and uses
information (stimuli) from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin to help us react, think and
plan, using the spinal cord to relay the responses to the body.

SUMMARY: to collect all the information from all the receptor cells in the senses receiving
all the stimuli, both inside and outside your body. This information will be looked at together
before making a decision and before messages being sent to the effectors (muscles &
glands). In this way, the best action can be taken in a particular set of circumstances.

B. Peripheral nervous system (PNS):

The Peripheral nervous system connects the central system to the rest of the body. Nerves
from the spinal cord carry instructions to the limbs from the brain. The main functions of the
PNS are (a) to consciously control actions like moving and (b) control internal processes like
digestion.
Some of the PNS is under voluntary control – you consciously think about what you want
to do, others are involuntary (no conscious thinking or decisions) – the brain automatically
does the work. This part is called the autonomic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system is subdivided into three parts:

1. The sympathetic nervous system, which controls external “fight or flight” situations of
danger.
2. The parasympathetic, which controls internal “rest and recuperation” situations like
heart beat or core body temperature.
3. The enteric system is specifically responsible for digestion.

2a. THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – BRAIN

1. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. It has two cerebral hemispheres.
Mammals have much larger cerebral hemispheres than any other kind of animal. And
humans have the largest ones of all. Memory and conscious thought take place here.
Different parts of the cerebrum have different functions. Some areas deal with sight,
others with speech.
2. The cerebellum controls balance, the coordination of the movement and muscular
movements.
3. The medulla, or medulla oblongata, controls UNCONSCIOUS activities such as heart
rate and breathing rate.
4. The hypothalamus lies under the front part of the cerebrum. It controls activities such as
temperature and water balance (osmoregulation).

The brain has 4 lobes: Highlight the role of each in this image

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INTERESTING BRAIN FACTS
The brain contains an estimated 100 Billion neurons, each one can transmit ~1000
messages per second.
Approx. 10% of the mass are protective glial cells and 73% is water.
It is very large compared to our body size and uses 20% of our energy needs – so 1L of
blood passes through the brain every minute.
It is fully formed by the age of 25: between 13 and the early twenties the frontal lobe is
completely reforming.
Each hemisphere or side of the brain covers different abilities.

Each part of the brain coordinates different senses and functions.

The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa.

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2a. THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – BRAIN – Limbic system
The limbic system is the part of the brain controlling our behaviour and emotions,
especially our survival skills: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight
or flight responses.

a) The hypothalamus produces important hormones and regulates of thirst,

hunger and mood etc).

b) The hippocampus is in each hemisphere of the brain and is essentially the

memory centre and learning centre of our brains. Here, our memories of
general knowledge and important life events are formed and catalogued to be
filed in other parts of the cerebrum. Connections made in the hippocampus
also help us associate memories with various senses like smell for example.
The hippocampus is one site in the brain where new neurons are made from
adult stem cells.

c) The amygdala plays a central role in our emotional responses, including

feelings like pleasure, fear, anxiety and anger and can add these emotions to
memories.

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2b. THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – SPINAL CORD

Function: To relay information to and from your brain

Location: Inside your backbone
Description: White cable, around 43cm long and 2cm wide
Your spinal cord is a white bundle of nerves, which runs from your brain down a canal in
your backbone.
Its main function is to relay information from the Peripheral nervous system about what's
happening inside and outside your body to and from your brain.

There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves connect your spinal cord to the rest of your body.
These nerves are part of your peripheral nervous system.
1. Cervical region: supplies the back of
your head, your neck, shoulders, arms,
hands and your diaphragm
2. Thoracic region: supplies your chest
and some parts of your abdomen
3. Lumbar region: supplies your lower
back as well as parts of your thighs and
legs
4. Sacral region: supplies your buttocks,
most parts of your legs and feet, as well
as your anal and genital area.

PARALYSIS
If the spinal cord is damaged in an accident, the sections below the injury will be cut off from
the circuit of information to and from your brain. This means, all nerves - and all body parts -
linked to these areas of the spinal cord will also be disconnected from your brain and will
stop functioning.

To minimize injury, your spinal cord is well protected with 3 tough envelopes called
meninges surround your spinal cord. It also has a clear fluid, that acts as a shock-absorber,
and your backbone surrounds your spinal cord, the shock-absorbing fluid and the meninges.

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3. NERVES
Nerves stretch through the body like electrical cables carrying messages to and from the
brain, the spinal cord, and the rest of the body.

A typical nerve is protected by a covering and contains thousands of nerve fibres, or axons,
wrapped in bundles called fascicles. Each axon carries a separate electrical signal.

Most nerves branch out of the spinal cord, and divides into finer and finer branches
eventually connecting with every single muscle cell and sensory cell.

4. NERVE CELLS - NEURONS

Neurons come in three main
structures:
- Multipolar – many endings
- Bipolar – two endings
- Unipolar – only one ending

- Multipolar – receive messages

from many sources
- Bipolar – receive information and
pass it on
- Unipolar – receive information from
only one source: receptors, and
pass it on.

They have the same basic parts of any animal cell. Each has a nucleus, cytoplasm and a cell
membrane, and a cell body (that contains the nucleus, mitochondria, reticulum and golgi)

Neurons carry an electrochemical signal necessary to allow coordination. The cell has
special fibres to carry these messages very quickly. These fibres vary in length from
microscopic to over 1 metre long. The axons of sensory and motor neurons are covered by
myelin, which helps to transmit the electrical impulse much faster, from 1m/s to 100m/s.

The Myelin sheath is produced by glial cells. Glial cells do not transmit nerve impulses.
Instead they maintain homeostasis, form myelin, and provide support and protection for
neurons. Glial cells also remove any debris by phagocytosis.

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Neurons can be divided into 3 types according to its function:
1. Sensory neurons, are unipolar (receive information from only one source) and pass
information about stimuli (such as light, heat or chemicals) from receptors from both
inside and outside your body to your spinal cord and brain.
2. Motor neurons, are multipolar (they have many dendrites to receive information)
which pass instructions from your central nervous system to other parts of your body,
such as muscles or glands
3. Interneuron or relay neurons, which connect your sensory and motor neurons. They
are found in the spinal cord and the brain.

There are 2 different types of fibre:

Fibres that carry information towards the cell body / incoming – dendrites
Fibres that carry information away from it / outgoing - axons.

THE 3 TYPES OF NEURON HAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT STRUCTURES so you need to

be able to differentiate them.

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PROCESS – THE SENSES REGISTER STIMULI
Organisms detect changes around them. A stimulus is a change in the
environment.
All living things are sensitive to their environment. This means they can detect
changes. The changes they detect are called stimuli (stimulus).

DEFINITION: A STIMULUS (PL. STIMULI) IS ANY CHANGE IN THE

EXTERNAL OR INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT REGISTERED BY
RECEPTORS.

The nervous system allows the body to respond to changes in the environment. How
an organism reacts to this stimulus is called a response.

You can have stimuli INSIDE or OUTSIDE your body. We respond to the stimuli,
sometimes by making a conscious decision (put on / take off clothes when we are hot
or cold), many more are unconscious (swallowing food, our heartbeat), and others
are automatic responses, perhaps to cold (hairs rise) or to pain / damage (reflex).

SUPER RAPID RESPONSES to external stimuli, which are called reflex actions,
involve the PNS and the spinal cord, but bypass the brain. The brain doesn’t process
the action until after it happens.

Examples include coughing, sneezing, touching something hot or something sharp.

This will be explained in more depth later.

The parts of the body that detect stimuli are called RECEPTORS. In animals the
receptors are often part of a sense organ.

WHAT ARE RECEPTORS AND WHY ARE THEY

IMPORTANT? Type stimuli
These receptors are specialised cells. They are Mechanoreceptor touch / pressure
called sensory cells or receptor cells.
Thermoreceptor heat
They are sensitive to different stimuli and are Chemoreceptor chemicals
found together in tissues that have the same
function. These tissues are found in our Photoreceptor light
sense organs. A sense organ may be Nociceptor pain
sensitive to one or various different stimuli.

DEFINITION: A receptor is a specialized cell in the skin or sense organ

that can register a specific stimulus.

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5.THE SENSE ORGANS

5A.THE SENSE ORGANS - SKIN

Stimuli > TOUCH, PAIN, PRESSURE, HEAT

System: SKIN - Integumentary
Location: All over the outside of your body
Physical description: Flat, flexible and tough, between 0.5 and 4mm thick
Function: To protect your body from damage, infection and drying out

Brain – processed in the parietal lobe

Your skin is your largest organ. It covers your entire body and has a surface area of around
2 square metres. Its thickness varies from 0.5mm on your eyelids to 4mm or more on the
palms of your hands and the soles of your feet. In total, it accounts for around 16 percent of
your body weight.

Your skin has 2 main layers: the outer epidermis and the dermis.
Epidermis: Cells in the deepest layer of your epidermis divide constantly to
make new cells. The new cells are pushed up towards the surface of your
skin. They eventually die and become filled with keratin (nails and hair also
have keratin*), an exceptionally tough protein. About every 30 days, your
body produces a totally new epidermis.

Dermis: consists of collagen and elastic fibres and capillaries. It also

contains touch, pressure and pain sensors and also with hair follicles,
sweat and oil glands. The oil glands produce a lubricant that keeps your skin
soft and prevents your hair from becoming brittle.
*"Keratin treatments are semi-permanent hair straightening treatments that
smooth and add shine to frizzy hair,"

Now colour in the receptors you see in skin diagram: Why are Which part of your body
contains the most touch
they are at different depths?
receptors? Why is that?

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How does TOUCH work?
1. Mechanoreceptors (mechano = machine) sense contact with the skin.
These receptors are mechanical, which means they feel physical change. The
change could be when an object presses firmly or just brushes against the
skin. But how do we know if it is a tickle or a prod?

2. Nociceptors (noci = to harm | ceptor = receptor) sense pain / damage.

We think of different types of pain like a cut or a burn, but nociceptors can't tell
one from the other. So while a person might think about pain as being different
for a burn versus a cut, nociceptors get similar information in both cases.

3. Thermoreceptors (thermo = heat) sense temperature. They do this by

changing their level of activity. For example, if the temperature becomes
colder, thermoreceptors that sense cold will be more active. The ones that
sense heat will be less active.

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5B.THE SENSE ORGANS – EYE

Stimulus: SIGHT / VISION / MOVEMENT/ LIGHT INTENTISTY

Receptors: photo receptors
Retina: Part of your eye where light rays are turned into images
Rods: Photoreceptors detecting shades of grey in poor light
Cones: Photoreceptors detecting colours in bright light
3D vision: The result of your brain merging the two images captured by your eyes
Movement: Our eyes are sensitive to movement.

Brain – processed in the occipital lobe

Can you identify these EXTERNAL parts of the human eye?

eyebrows, eyelashes, eyelids, conjunctiva, pupil, iris, cornea, sclera, small blood vessels,
and openings to tear ducts.
Your eyes are your organs of sight. In
order to see, however, you also need your
optic nerves to transmit nerve impulse to
your brain, which then adjusts and
interprets the images of the world
surrounding you.

The eyes are hollow spheres full of

vitreous fluid = vitreous body.
Their walls are made up of 3 different
layers:
(3): Outside is your white sclera, which
has a transparent window at the front of
your eye called the cornea (4)
(2): In the middle is a coat containing your
coloured iris
(6) : Inside, at the back, is your retina,
where light rays are turned into images

EYE INTERNAL STRUCTURE: RECEPTORS ARE FOUND IN THE RETINA

It contains millions of receptor cells called photoreceptors, which respond to light
entering your eye, to changes in light intensity and to movement.

HOW DO PHOTORECEPTORS WORK?

• Photoreceptors contain visual pigments. When light hits these pigments, they
briefly lose their colour. This bleaching process triggers nerve impulses, which are
transmitted to your brain via your optic nerve.
• Your optic nerve runs out of the back of your eye where you have no
photoreceptors. This part of your retina is known as your 'blind spot'.

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You have 2 types of photoreceptor cells:

Rods Cones
detect colours in shades of grey see colours
can sense shape and movement 3 types each with a pigment that responds
to a different wavelength of light - green,
red or blue
about 120 million rods around 7 million cones
densest at the edge of your retina densest at the centre of your retina
use them in dim light need bright light to function

Parts of the eye:

Cornea – a transparent curved lens that refracts light
Iris - Coloured circle around the pupil. It controls the size of the pupil
Pupil - Black part of the eye. This is an opening that lets light in
Lens - This focuses light onto the retina
Retina - Light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. It is made up of rods and cones
Rods - Sense cells that help us see the shapes of things
Cones - Sense cells that help us see colours
Optic nerve - Carries messages from the retina to the brain. The brain turns these
into an image of what we are looking at
Ciliary muscles and suspensory ligaments change the shape of the lens to help
focus on objects at different distances.

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5C.THE SENSE ORGANS - EAR

Stimulus: chemical – sound / pressure / balance

Sound: Sounds are vibrations
Ear: Divided into your outer, middle and inner ear
Cochlea: Part of your inner ear, where your actual organ of hearing is located
Locating sounds: Sound reaches your two ears at different times, enabling you to locate
its source

Brain – processed in the temporal lobe

Your ears are your organs of hearing. They are sensitive to change in pressure and the
movement of air molecules. In order to hear, however, you also need your cochlear nerves to
transmit nerve impulses to your brain, which then interpret the sounds coming from the world
surrounding you.
Your ear is divided into 3 parts:
• Outer ear: your ear, or pinna, and your outer ear canal, which ends at your eardrum. It
contains air.
• Middle ear: the space between eardrum and inner ear. It contains the ossicles, the three
smallest bones in your body - the hammer, anvil and stirrups. It also contains air.
• Inner ear: a maze of bony chambers called the semi circular canal, including the
cochlea and contains your actual organ of hearing. It contains fluid.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

1. Your pinna funnels sound waves into your outer ear canal.
2. The waves travel along this passage until they hit your eardrum and cause it to vibrate.
3. Your ossicles start moving.
4. They pass on vibrations to the oval window.
5. The movement of the oval window makes waves in the fluid in your cochlea.
6. The waves move the receptors or sensory hairs in the cochlea.
7. This movement becomes an electrical impulse and goes along the cochlear nerve to your brain.

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The receptor cells are in the inner ear – in the cochlea:

How do mechanoreceptors work?

Your mechanoreceptors in the cochlea are attached Gel
to a membrane. Tiny sensory hairs emerge from membrane
each sensory hair cell and go into a second, gel-like
membrane above. Whenever the fluids in your
cochlea move, the first membrane vibrates and Sensory hair
squashes the sensory hairs against the second cell
membrane.

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5D.THE SENSE ORGANS - NOSE

Stimulus: chemical – smell

Receptors: Olfactory receptors
Smell and taste: Food tastes boring without your sense of smell
Linked to memories: The nerves involved in smelling are linked to the emotional and
memory parts of your brain

Brain – processed in the frontal lobe

Smell memories and perception are thought to take place in the temporal lobe.

The chemoreceptor cells are in the OLFACTORY BULB – in the nasal cavity:
Some receptors, like the nose detect chemicals. In some animals, newborn babies and the
blind the nose is very sensitive. You are able to detect thousands of different smells. The
receptors that sense smells are called olfactory receptors.

WHERE? They occupy a small area in the roof of your nasal cavity, called the olfactory
bulb.

WHAT ARE THEY? They are tiny hairs, made of nerve fibres connected to your olfactory
receptors. They are covered with mucus. If a smell, formed by chemicals in the air, dissolves
in this mucus, the hairs absorb it and excite your olfactory receptors.

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SMELLS / ODOURS: Your sense of
smell warns you of dangers such as
smoke and poisonous gases. It also
helps you appreciate the full flavours of
food and drink. Your sense of smell is
10,000 times more sensitive than your
sense of taste.
HOW DOES IT WORK? A few
molecules are enough to activate these
extremely sensitive receptors.
When your olfactory receptors are
stimulated, they transmit impulses to
your brain.
This pathway is directly connected to
the part of your brain that deals with
emotions.
That's why you usually either like or
dislike a smell.
Smells are ALSO strongly linked to
your memories.

SMELL IS PROCESSED IN THE LIMBIC SYSTEM

The limbic system handles basic emotions.

These are fear, anger and pleasure.

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5E.THE SENSE ORGANS - TONGUE

Stimulus: chemical – TASTE

Receptors: Gustatory receptors – taste buds
Smell and taste: Food tastes boring without your sense of smell

Brain – processed in the parietal lobe

The tongue also contains receptors which respond to chemical stimuli, both in the
air or in food. The stimuli for the tongue are also called flavours.

In reality there are at least five main flavours we can distinguish:

sweet, sour, bitter and salt, plus umami.

WHERE ARE CHEMICAL STIMULI REGISTERED?

On the tongue, these flavours (chemicals in solid food

and liquids) stimulate receptor cells that are found in
small groups, called taste buds within the surface of
the tongue. Originally scientists thought taste buds do
not all respond to the same kind of chemicals. Today
new research suggests every taste bud has
chemoreceptors for each of five flavours.

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The tongue and the nose work together to identify flavours and smells, essentially the
ones that might harm us – like bitter – most toxins are bitter. Bad food turns sour.

HOW DOES IT WORK? While you're chewing food, the food releases chemicals that
immediately travel up into your nose. These chemicals trigger the olfactory receptors
inside the nose. They work together with your taste buds to send the information to
the brain which identifies the true flavor(s) in the food.

HOW MANY taste buds do we have? The average person has about 10,000 taste buds and
they're replaced every 2 weeks or so.

The more taste buds you have, the more intensely you
perceive tastes, especially bitter ones. People who are
particularly sensitive are called supertasters. Around
25% of people are said to be supertasters.

This is the bitter chemical called

6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP).
Non-tasters can't taste the bitterness of
PROP at all. Children taste PROP more
strongly than adults, in foods like black
chocolate or coffee or broccoli.

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PROCESS: COORDINATION – HOW DOES THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
FUNCTION?

Most animals have two methods of sending messages:

Receptors, nerves and effectors = nervous system
Chemicals called hormones = endocrine system

When the brain processes a stimulus, what happens next?

The brain coordinates our responses to stimuli and these can be conscious response,
unconscious response or reflex actions.

Learning, for example, produces thousands of connections between groups of

neurons in the brain. Some like riding a bike we retain.

These responses are conditioned by age and experience – memory in the frontal
cortex. At puberty commonly used pathways are reinforced, others are removed to
make space for new learning in complex thinking, planning, problem solving etc.

6. EFFECTORS AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

Being able to detect stimuli is not much use to an organism unless it can respond to
them in some useful way.

DEFINITION: AN EFFECTOR IS ANY PART OF THE BODY CELL THAT

PRODUCES A RESPONSE.

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF EFFECTORS:

1_ Muscles. E.g. if you touch something hot, the muscles in your arm contract, so
that your hand is quickly pulled away.
2_Glands. E.g. if you smell food cooking, your salivary glands react by secreting
saliva.

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How does the brain coordinate responses to different stimuli?
To make sure that the right effectors respond at the right time, there must be some
kind of communication system between receptors and effectors. The way in which
receptors pick up stimuli and then pass messages on to effectors is called
coordination.

Coordination: stimulus > receptor > message > effector > response
Animals need fast and efficient communication between their receptors and effectors
because they need to move to find food. They need to respond very quickly to catch
their food, or to avoid predators.

PROCESS – MOVEMENT

Movement is processed in the motor cortex of the

parietal lobe through the PNS. It retains a type of
“muscle map” of the body with most space reserved for
the face and hands.

The map can change if you learn a new skill requiring

fine muscle control, like learning a musical instrument.

The brain checks that the right muscles are used for
every movement. Scientists think the cerebellum
receives a plan for these movements as it is important
for balance.

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PROBLEM – NEURONS DO NOT TOUCH SO HOW DO ELECTRICAL
IMPULSES PASS FROM NEURON TO NEURON?
Neurons do not touch each other. So how can a nerve impulse pass from one
neuron to another to the spinal cord and up to the brain?

Neurons use synapses to pass messages

SYNAPSES
Neurons use synapses to pass the electrical impulse from one to another.

When a nerve impulse reaches the end of one neuron, a chemical is released,
called neurotransmitter. It diffuses from this neuron across a junction and excites
the next neuron and so the electrical impulse passes on. There can be many
synapses when a message is sent.

Synapses ensure that nervous impulses only travel in one direction because there is
only transmitter substance on one side of the space, so messages can only go
across from that side.

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Study this diagram of a synapse. Why are neurotransmitters
important?

7. REFLEXES AND THE REFLEX ARC

Control: Your spinal cord usually controls your reflexes
Reflexes: Involuntary and rapid actions
Autonomic reflexes: Body functions such as digestion or blood pressure

These are rapid actions your body does normally to protect you.

Your brain is told about it but does not influence the action. Reflex actions are very
useful because the message gets from the receptor to the effector as quickly as
possible. You do not waste time thinking about what to do!

HOW DOES IT WORK

1. Hand touches the beetle. This is the stimulus
2. A message is picked up by a sensory receptor in your finger when it bites you!
3. Message travels along the axon of the sensory neuron to the spinal cord.
4. Inside the spinal cord the sensory neuron passes its message along several
relay neurons. Each time the message must synapse with a new neuron.
5. The relay neurons pass the message along the spinal cord on to the brain.
6. At the same time another relay neuron synapses with a motor neuron.
7. The motor neuron passes the message to an effector in your arm muscle.
8. The effector receives the message and the muscle contracts
9. You pull your hand away amd run!

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Learn the scheme of this reflex arc. How is it DIFFERENT from normal
coordination? What do you have to remember?

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EXAMPLES

1. TOUCHING A HOT SURFACE

2. TOUCHING A SHARP SURFACE

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3. ACCOMMODATION IN THE EYES: IRIS AND PUPIL

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