063 The Divisions of the Nervous System

Join Leslie as he gives you a review of the brain and it’s different major divisions.

Enjoy!

Transcript of Today’s Episode

Hello and welcome to another episode of Interactive-Biology TV, where we’re making Biology fun! My name is Leslie Samuel and in this episode, Episode 063, we’re going to take a step back, and we’re going to talk about the divisions of the Nervous System. Let’s get right into it.

If you go all the way back to Episode 001, we spoke about the Nervous System. We said that the nervous system is basically the ‘control center’ of the body.

What we’re going to do is we’re going to take this, and we’re going to look at the divisions within the nervous system. First, we have the Central Nervous System, and we have the Peripheral Nervous System. These are the two systems that we can divide the nervous system into.

The Central Nervous System, that is the processing center of the nervous system. A lot of processing happens here. The Peripheral Nervous System is what connects the Central Nervous System to the limbs and the organs. So, we have the processing in the central, and then, we have the Peripheral Nervous System. These work together very well.

Now, let’s take the Central Nervous System and divide that. That can be divided into the brain and the spinal cord. The brain, that’s center of the nervous system. This is where most of the processing are happening. This is the part that’s found within the skull. This is where things like thought, and emotion, coordinating the body’s activities, all of that stuff happens in the brain.

Then, of course, we have the spinal cord. The spinal cord sends signal to and from the brain, to and from the rest of the body. So, it’s connecting the brain to the rest of the body, basically. Sensory signals come in to the spinal cord, and motor signals go out from the spinal cord. We’re going to talk about those as we deal with the peripheral nervous system. Let’s head on over there right now.

The peripheral nervous, once again, consists of two parts: that’s the Somatic Nervous System and the Autonomic Nervous System.

Let’s talk about the ‘somatic’ first. The Somatic Nervous System is where we’re going to get control of voluntary activities. This is where skeletal muscles are involved. If, for example, I want to walk. I need to contract the muscles in my legs. That is voluntary activity that is controlled by the somatic nervous system. If I want to smile and you can control the muscles in my face. By the way, it takes less muscles to smile than to frown. But, I’m sure you know that. This is all in the Somatic Nervous System.

And, then of course, we have the Autonomic Nervous System which is not voluntary. This is the involuntary things that happen in the body. So, it controls visual functions like heart rate, respiration rate, digestion, those things you don’t need to think about. They just happen. They are “involuntary,” and that is under the control of the Autonomic Nervous System.

We can take the Autonomic Nervous System, and of course, we’re going to divide that into two parts. We have the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Parasympathetic Nervous System.

The Sympathetic Nervous System, that is involved in the ‘flight or fight response.’ It’s what happens to your body when your body is under stress. Things like increasing your heart rate and respiration rate… Anything that you’re increasing. This is usually under the control of the sympathetic nervous system. So, if you go for a nice long jog, and you’re heart rate starts increasing and your respiration rate increases, that is under the control of your sympathetic nervous system.

Then, of course, we have the parasympathetic, which is opposite to the sympathetic. This is involved during rest and digest activities. It’s the opposite of under stress. It’s when there is rest. You’re slowing things down. You’re relaxing. That is more parasympathetic. These are both under the autonomic nervous system.

So, there we have it. Those are the divisions of the nervous system. I hope that was clear to you. That’s pretty much all I want to cover in this video. As usual, I want to invite you to visit the website. You know it. It’s at www.Interactive-Biology.com. There, you can get other Biology videos, and resources to help make Biology fun. This is Leslie Samuel, and I’ll see you in the next one.



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  1. Nice intro to the nervous system! It really helps to keep things clear from the word go! In my uni they post the PPT presentations onto an online campus, but they are usually just pics with no reference or anything. The teachers waffle about them for an hour and then you are on your own. Posting summary videos like this on Youtube for your students is really going the extra mile, and making them available for the rest of us is so kind and generous. THANKYOU

  2. Nice intro to the nervous system! It really helps to keep things clear from the word go! In my uni they post the PPT presentations onto an online campus, but they are usually just pics with no reference or anything. The teachers waffle about them for an hour and then you are on your own. Posting summary videos like this on Youtube for your students is really going the extra mile, and making them available for the rest of us is so kind and generous. THANKYOU

  3. Yep, I know exactly what you mean. Glad to know you found the video helpful.

    All the best!

  4. hi, could u please tell me at what point does C.N.S AND P.N.S get differentiated histologically and what will be the histological differences at that point?

  5. hi, could u please tell me at what point does C.N.S AND P.N.S get differentiated histologically and what will be the histological differences at that point?

  6. Sorry, but I can’t tell you because I don’t know. However, I might be getting to that topic later on in my class prep. Not 100% sure though.

  7. Parasympathetic word has a mistake….just to let you know….Thank you for a great video on CNS ans PNS it was very helpful…

  8. O..O..omg! this thing is making so much since to me now thank-you soooooooooooo much but one question can you talk more about the somatic nervous system the afferent and effrent…the sensory and motor plzzzzzzzzz

  9. O..O..omg! this thing is making so much since to me now thank-you soooooooooooo much but one question can you talk more about the somatic nervous system the afferent and effrent…the sensory and motor plzzzzzzzzz

  10. @305tanisha Glad you’re finding value in our videos. Unfortunately, Leslie is no longer taking requests for specific videos, but he will definitely get to more Biology topics in the future. He has many to work on at the moment. So stay tuned for more 🙂

  11. Glad you’re finding value in our videos. Unfortunately, Leslie is no longer taking requests for specific videos, but he will definitely get to more Biology topics in the future. He has many to work on at the moment. So stay tuned for more 🙂

  12. Glad you’re finding value in our videos. Unfortunately, Leslie is no longer taking requests for specific videos, but he will definitely get to more Biology topics in the future. He has many to work on at the moment. So stay tuned for more 🙂

  13. Saves me from reading 4-pages….that’s why i love youtube esp if you find smart people to help you make everything easy to understand. You are awesome, keep posting!

  14. Saves me from reading 4-pages….that’s why i love youtube esp if you find smart people to help you make everything easy to understand. You are awesome, keep posting!

  15. These organizational charts are awesome and help me to recall the information in an organized manner.Please make a video on the Autonomic Nervous System soon.

  16. you explained this in 5 min ,my teacher needs 90 min to say the same things you did

  17. Hands down !!!! you are the best… all the information I need for my test is on your videos thanks man.

  18. Subscribed! this is so easy for me now! thank you ! you saved me from failing my biology test TTwTT

  19. Afferent is the pathway that carries input, it approaches the control centre. The efferent pathway is the one that carries output away from the control centre.

  20. Afferent is the pathway that carries input, it approaches the control centre. The efferent pathway is the one that carries output away from the control centre.

  21. Thank you so much for this video! I have a test in the morning, and I feel much more prepared 🙂

  22. May God bless you. Leslie you saved me from head ache.. can u refer me to any psychology lesson pls.

  23. I thought the autonomic and the somatic nervous systems are not limited to the peripheral nervous system. I thought they are also part of the central nervous system. Could somebody knowledgable clarify?

  24. Which video is the one where you talk about the motor and sensory neurons? I cannot find it and I don’t think it’s video 2.

  25. Hi! Yes, it’s Episode 002 where an intro to the types of neurons is also discussed.

  26. good video, i was taught that the ANS was its own classification and not part of the PNS but i guess as far as function is concerned, it doesn’t matter. again good video

  27. Thankyou!!! I have a biology test tomorrow and I finally understood that fight and flight thing 😀

  28. ik vind het een logische benadering dit benadering gebruik ik in mij praktijk,maar nog meer, als de hersen syssteam aan getast is door een microbe kan een afwijking ontstaan ,met gevolg van gdrachts verandering de NERVOUS is afhanggelijk van reactie van de andere organen in het syssteam

  29. Can you please explain how to classify the sensory and motor divisions of the PNS? I thought that the motor division consisted of BOTH the somatic subdivision and ANS.

  30. Aren’t you supposed to divide the autonomic nervous system in to afferent and efferent nerves and then from efferent nerves divides into sympathetic and parampthetic nerves??

    Oh and the somatic nervous system also divides into afferent and efferent nerves…

  31. Aren’t you supposed to divide the autonomic nervous system in to afferent and efferent nerves and then from efferent nerves divides into sympathetic and parampthetic nerves??
    Oh and the somatic nervous system also divides into afferent and efferent nerves…

  32. What about the efferent and afferent divisions of the PNS? Is there an episode on those that I can review? Great video by the way!!!!

  33. I have a huge test tomorrow and i just could not understand the nervous system but your video made me understand it!!!!!!!!!! i fully get it all of a sudden thank you so very much!!!

  34. Fantastic video! You should totally be the chief examiner for A-level Bio!!!

    Do you have a video on neuromuscular junctions? My A-level syllabus has a section on co-ordinated movement and the action of skeletal muscles about joints with reference to the elbow joint but the textbook isn’t very clear about it? Could you also please explain the difference between a twitch and a tetanus?

  35. Has there been any new videos made yet for the somatic nervous system the afferent and effrent…the sensory and motor pathways, receptors?

  36. Sir thank you so much! My A & P professor created 50 slides trying to explain this to us, I was so confused. Thanks to your 5:00 Video I FINALLY GET IT!!!

    Thank you =)

  37. Random question not related to Bio, are you Jamaican? just wondering from the accent…

  38. Do you believe that some people are able to gain total control over their autonomic function?

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