preview

The Central Nervous System

Decent Essays

Did you know your brain is roughly 75% water, but only accounts for about 2% of your total weight? Located in the head, the brain is the main organ of the central nervous system. The brain is used to regulate everyday life. Its three primary functions are to produce behavior, to create a sensory reality, and to create knowledge that separates different times and sensory domains used to guide behavior. It must have systems to create the sensory world, systems to produce behavior, and systems to integrate the two (). For that reason the very complex brain is organized into six interconnected divisions and two hemispheres that preform specific functions. The hindbrain or brain stem consists of four parts. The first is the medulla, which is actually an extension of the spinal cord into the skull. Other than containing tracts up and down from the spinal cord to other portions of the brain, the medulla also contains some of the most essential nuclei that are responsible for beating of the heart. In the upper part of the medulla we find the reticular formation which is responsible for regulating alertness, breathing, sleep, waking. Secondly, we have the pons which is located partially in the front of the medulla and comes around to the back. The pons is responsible for dreaming and awaking from sleep. It has pathways that connect the two halves of the last part of the hindbrain; the cerebellum. The cerebellum is actually the Latin word for “little brain” which speaks for itself

Get Access