The nervous system is a set of organs and neuronal tissue responsible for regulating the functions of our brain and its communication with the rest of our body. The nervous system allows us to perceive the senses and understand the world, thanks to it we can hear, see, smell, feel and taste. Not only that, but it also regulates our movements and mental processing.
You want to know How does the nervous system work? Then we recommend that you continue reading this complete PsychologyFor article.
When we reflect on ourselves as individuals and everything that surrounds us, we can come to the conclusion that everything we feel and think is part of our mind… However, what does it mean?what our mind really is?
Although it is true that, under other focuses, we can analyze thought beyond a physical plane, what we are sure of is that our brain and the connections it makes with the different organs of the nervous system can be understood as “the mind.”
So…What is the nervous system?
We can define this system as a set of specialized cells (neurons) responsible for transmitting information and creating a network of chemical and electrical communication for our body.
In humans, the greatest activity of the nervous system is concentrated in the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system or CNS) although there are also neuronal networks distributed throughout the trunk and extremities (autonomic nervous system or ANS).
It is important to comment that, in addition to the neuron, the nervous system could not function correctly if it were not for the existence of the glial cells or neuroglia These cells are “the cement” that unites the neural network and without them, there would be no connection between external stimuli and our mind.
How does the nervous system work?
To understand its function, it is important to differentiate its two main pathways: the one that transmits information and the one that receives and/or processes it Let’s take an example to understand how the nervous system works:
We see a ball on the ground and we hit her with the foot: our eyes perceive an object, this stimulus reaches the central nervous system (CNS) which processes it and detects the characteristics of the object until identifies it as a ball Later, through a mental processing we determine that we are going to kick him, so our brain sends information in the form of neurotransmitters through the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to the leg muscles so that they perform the kick movement
Below, we offer you a diagram so you can see the parts of the nervous system and understanding is easier:
Nervous system: parts and classification
As we have introduced previously, this set of neurons and glial cells is divided into several parts which are also divided according to the function of each organ. The parts or structure of the nervous system is something that has taken many years of research to create the model we have today and that we will show below.
How the nervous system is divided
First of all, we can differentiate two major divisions of the nervous system:
– Central Nervous System (CNS): it is the part in which the information collected by the peripheral nervous system is processed; in addition, from neuronal processing they also generate responses to send to other organs. For example, if we think about carrying out an action such as jumping, the CNS will send a signal to our muscles through the peripheral nervous system to execute said action.
– Peripheral nervous system (SNP): consists of a network of nerves that collect information from the environment (senses) to give it to the CNS and, on the other hand, receive information from the CNS to execute actions throughout our body.
In turn, they can be divided as follows:
– Central Nervous System:
Brain
Cerebellum
brain stem
Spinal cord
– Peripheral nervous system
Cranial nerves
Spinal nerves (Autonomous SNP ): The autonomic PNS is also divided into the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, and the enteric nervous system.
Organs of the nervous system
Now that we know how the nervous system works and how it is organized, we are going to describe the different organs that are part of it:
Brain: comprised between the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem. This organ is primarily responsible for processing information from the nervous system.
Spinal cord: It connects the brain to the nerves throughout the body, is attached to the brain stem and runs down our back.
Sensory organs: The eyes, touch receptors, tongue, nose and ears also have a strong influence on the nervous system since they are those that collect the information necessary for our brain processing.
Nerves: The nervous network that extends through our body is an organic system that is part of the ANS.
We could say that our entire body influences the nervous system, even the intestine! If you want to know more, you can consult this article about the enteric nervous system and the relationship between the intestine and emotions.
Nervous system diseases
Being a network where so many organs participate, it is normal that many diseases are related to the nervous system. Different psychopathologies (or mental illnesses) have a relationship between the neurotransmitters generated by our CNS. For example, people with depression or borderline personality disorder often generate less serotonin than the population average.
We highlight the following diseases of the nervous system of physical origin:
Explanatory video of the function of the nervous system
This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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