Terms for Nervous System Parts

Terms for referring to parts of the nervous system. This is for Week 4 of PS1005 Biological Psychology

Peripheral Nervous System

Nerves outside the brain and spinal cord

Central Nervous System

Consists of brain and spinal cord

Somatic Nervous System

• Connects to sensory organs

• Helps move muscles that are consciously controlled

• Part of PNS

Autonomic Nervous System

• Part of PNS

• Regulates involuntary bodily functions

Lamina

Layer of cell bodies separated by dendrites and axons from other cell bodies

Column

Set of cells perpendicular to the surface of the cortex

Tract/Projection

• A set of axons along the CNS

• If axons extend from one cell structure to synapses to the next, it projects from A to B

Nerve

Cable-like bundle of axons that carry electrical impulses between your brain and the rest of your body

Nucleus

A nerve cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals in the nervous system

Ganglion

Cluster of neuron cell bodies in PNS

Gyrus

Ridge on the surface of cerebral cortex

Sulcus

A groove/depression that separates the gyri

Fissure

A cleft/groove/indentation in a surface, especially any of the deep grooves in the cerebral cortex