27coordination and Control

COORDINATION
& CONTROL
SerinaRoberts
Humans must constantly monitor their environment and respond appropriately
to any changes in this environment to help them survive. To do this, two systems
are involved, the nervous system and the endocrine (hormonal) system.
• Stimulus is a change in the internal or external environment of an
organism that initiates a response.
• Response is a change in an organism or part of an organism which is
brought about by a stimulus.
• Receptor is the part of the organism that detects the stimulus.
• Effector is the part of an organism that responds to the stimulus
COORDINATION BY THE NERVOUS AND
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
• Coordination is brought about by receptors detecting stimuli, both
internal and external, and passing messages on to the appropriate
effectors causing them to respond.
• In humans, receptors are the sense organs, which contain specialised
receptor cells, and effectors are muscles and glands.
• Two systems are responsible for this coordination, the nervous system
and the endocrine (hormonal) system.
THE NERVOUS SYTEM
The human nervous system is composed of
neurones or nerve cells and is divided into two
parts:
• The central nervous system (CNS), which
consists of the brain and the spinal cord.
• The peripheral nervous system (PNS), which
consists of cranial and spinal nerves that connect
the central nervous system to all parts of the
body. The PNS is divided into the autonomic
nervous system and the voluntary or somatic
nervous system
THE BRAIN
• The human brain is an extremely complex organ. It has five main parts, each
concerned with different functions.
NEURONES
• Neurones are specialised cells that conduct nerve impulses throughout
the nervous system.
• All neurones have a cell body with thin fibres of cytoplasm extending
from it called nerve fibres.
• Nerve fibres that carry impulses towards the cell body are called
dendrites.
• Nerve fibres that carry impulses away from the cell body are called
axons; each neurone has only one axon.
There are 3 types of Neurones
• Sensory neurones, which transmit impulses from receptors to the CNS.
• Motor neurones, which transmit impulses from the CNS to effectors.
• Relay or intermediate neurones, which transmit impulses throughout the
CNS. They link sensory and motor neurones
Neurones have two major properties:
• Irritability. They can convert a stimulus into an electrical (nerve)
impulse.
• Conductivity. They can transmit nerve impulses to other neurons.
NERVES
• Nerves are cordlike bundles of nerve fibres of neurones surrounded by
connective tissue through which impulses pass between the CNS and
the rest of the body.
Nerves can be classified into three types based on what they are composed of:
• Sensory nerves (afferent nerves) are composed of the nerve fibres of
sensory neurones only and they carry impulses from receptors to the CNS.
• Motor nerves (efferent nerves) are composed of nerve fibres of motor
neurones only and they carry impulses from the CNS to effectors.
• Mixed nerves are composed of nerve fibres of both sensory and motor
neurones and they carry impulses in both directions, from receptors to the
CNS and from the CNS to effectors.
Nerves can be classified into two types based on where they connect to
the CNS:
• Cranial nerves connect to the brain.
• Spinal nerves connect to the spinal co
SYNAPSES
• Adjacent neurones do not touch.
• There are tiny gaps called synapses between the synaptic knobs at the
end of one axon and the dendrites or cell body of adjacent neurones.
• Chemicals known as neurotransmitters are released into the synapses by
vesicles (small sacs) in the synaptic knobs.
• These chemicals cause impulses to be set up in adjacent neurones.
• This ensures impulses travel in one direction only and allows many
neurones to interconnect.
VOLUNTARY ACTIONS
• A voluntary action is an action that is consciously controlled by the
brain.
The cerebrum of the brain initiates voluntary actions in one of two ways,
both of which involve conscious thought:
• It can coordinate incoming information from sensory neurones and
initiate an action.
• It can spontaneously initiate an action without receiving any incoming
information.
To initiate the action, impulses are sent from the cerebrum along relay neurones
in the brain and spinal cord to motor neurones.
These motor neurones then carry these impulses to skeletal muscles (effectors)
initiating a conscious response, e.g. talking, writing, running.
Voluntary actions:
• are learned
• are relatively slow
• are complex because a variety of different responses can result from one
stimulus.
INVOLUNTARY ACTIONS
• An involuntary action is an action that occurs without conscious
thought.
Involuntary actions:
• are not learned
• are rapid
• are simple because the same response always results from the same
stimulus
There are two types of involuntary actions:
• Actions controlled by the autonomic nervous system.
• Reflex actions
ACTIONS CONTROLLED BY THE
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
• The autonomic nervous system is composed of motor nerves only and
regulates the functioning of internal organs, e.g. it controls breathing
rate, heart rate, digestion, peristalsis and blood pressure.
• Information from internal receptors passes to the medulla of the brain
which sends impulses out along motor neurones in cranial and spinal
nerves to the effectors.
• The autonomic nervous system is important in homeostasis
REFLEX ACTIONS
• A reflex action is a rapid, automatic, involuntary response to a stimulus
by a muscle or gland.
A reflex action is always initiated by an external stimulus. The pathway between
receptor and effector is known as a reflex arc. It is simple and involves the following:
• A receptor that detects the stimulus.
• A sensory neurone that carries the impulse to the central nervous system.
• A relay neurone in the central nervous system that carries the impulse to a motor
neurone.
• A motor neurone that carries the impulse away from the central nervous system.
• An effector that responds to the stimulus.
Simple reflexes are classified as cranial reflexes or spinal reflex
CRANIAL REFLEXES
SPINAL REFLEXES
• In spinal reflexes, impulses pass through spinal nerves and the spinal
cord. Spinal reflexes include the knee jerk reflex which lacks a relay
neurone, and the withdrawal reflex in response to pain, e.g. when the
finger is pricked, pain receptors are stimulated and the hand is rapidly
withdrawn from the source of the pain.

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COORDINATION

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