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Lesson 10: The Central Nervous System
Outline for journal p 122
(underlined words should be added to journal –
what is in red should fit in the cerebrum minibook)
Intelligence depends more on whether or not your interneurons are connecting a lot of neurons to
other neurons NOT on the actual number of neurons in the brain
Interneuron – a type of neuron that is found between and connects other neurons
Interneurons form better connections the more times you hear, do and experience something
-Ben Franklin said “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”
-what he was saying is that you remember:
Some of what you hear
More of what you hear and see
Most of what you hear, see and do
Let’s try and experiment: You will need a piece of scratch paper. Listen to this list: bell,
button, candle, car, dinosaur, dolphin, lace, lollipop, pipe cleaner, pompom, snowman, spoon,
tape, toothpick.
Now write down as many items as you can remember from my list.
Let’s look at each of these items.
Now write down as many as you remember.
Finally, let’s pass each of these around and discuss the items.
Now write down as many as you remember.
Did your list of what you could remember grow each time we added new info?
3 parts of the brain: cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem
The brain is actually made up of 2 halves: the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere
Each half of the cerebrum contains 4 lobes
1. frontal lobe - speech and language
- thoughts and ideas
- processes emotions
- skilled movements
- sense of smell
2. temporal lobe - sound
- memories
- sense of smell
3. occipital lobe – visual info
4. parietal lobe – sensory info (temperature, pressure, touch, pain)
Each side focus’s on certain tasks:
Left side
Right side
Math, logic. Language
creative (art and music)
Gray matter – outer surface of the brain, grayish in color
- contains neuron cell bodies
- known as cerebral cortex
- 2-6 mm thick (4 pennies stacked is about 6 mm)
White matter – inner part of the brain, white to pinkish in color
- contains the axons surrounded by myelin (the fatty insulation that helps signals
travel faster down the axon)
Bundles of neuron axons in peripheral nervous system are called nerves
The same bundles in the brain are called tracts (bundles of neuron axons found in the brain)
Try this p165 (dropping ruler to measure reaction time)
Cerebellum – keeps you balanced
Try this p166 (stand up, stretch out arms, close eyes, bring right arm to touch nose, repeat with
left, touch fingers together)
Brain stem - connects brain and spinal cord
- controls unconscious activities (breathing, temperature, heart rate)
- can produce physical sensations that correspond with emotions
- sorts info like a receptionist
Try this p 167 dominant eye; focus on object 20 ft away, cover one eye, if object shifts you have
covered your dominant eye
Spinal cord – made of tracts, enclosed in set of bones (spinal column)
Rami – nerves that branch from nerve exiting the spinal column
Reflex arc – the action that occurs when an interneuron in the spinal cord decides to activate a
motor neuron with out waiting for the brain to give instructions
- made of a sensory neuron, motor neuron and an interneuron
- info doesn’t travel all the way to brain; uses spinal cord for faster processing
Cerebrospinal fluid – fluid between the skull and brain that helps cushion and protect the brain