Homeostasis Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the fundamentals of homeostasis, including control systems, pathways, and feedback loops.

Homeostasis

The process of keeping things stable inside your body.

Static State

A state of staying the same.

Dynamic State

A state where your body is always checking to make sure everything functions.

Nervous System

One of the systems that controls homeostasis, characterized by a fast response.

Endocrine System

One of the systems that controls homeostasis, characterized as a slower hormone system.

Control Mechanism

The homeostatic sequence consisting of Receptor $\rightarrow$ Control Center $\rightarrow$ Effector.

Receptor

The component in the control mechanism that detects a change.

Control Center

The central part of the homeostatic mechanism that integrates and processes information to determine an appropriate response.

Effector

The component that receives information through efferent pathways to provide a fix or response to the original stimulus.

Afferent pathway

The pathway in the sensory nervous system that sends information towards the CNS (arrives at the brain), such as when touching a hot stove.

Efferent pathway

The pathway that sends commands away from the CNS (exits the brain) to muscles or organs, such as telling the body to pull away from a hot stove.

Negative Feedback

A mechanism that stops or reverses a change to get back to normal, such as sweating to cool the body down.

Positive Feedback

A mechanism where a change gets bigger and the body makes it stronger until the process is finished, such as blood clotting.

Blood Clotting Cascade

A process where damaged cells release chemicals to start a chain reaction to form a clot and stop bleeding.