This chapter focuses on the nervous system. This includes motor control and the basis of sensation. It outlines the organization of the nervous system and the nature of its constituent cells. The nervous system may be divided into five main parts: the brain, the spinal cord, peripheral nerves, the autonomic nervous system, and the enteric nervous system. The chapter discusses how the brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system (CNS), while the peripheral nerves, autonomic nervous system, and enteric nervous system make up the peripheral nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that is concerned with the innervation of blood vessels and the internal organs, which includes the autonomic ganglia that run parallel to the spinal column and their associated nerves.
Chapter
Introduction to the nervous system
Chapter
The autonomic nervous system
This chapter deals with the autonomic nervous system (ANS). This regulates the operation of the internal organs and supports the activity of the body as a whole. The autonomic nervous system is not a separate nervous system but is the efferent pathway that links those areas within the brain concerned with the regulation of the internal environment to specific effectors such as blood vessels, the heart, and the gut. The chapter points out that the ANS does not pass directly to the effector organs, but rather they synapse in autonomic ganglia, which are located outside the CNS. The chapter looks at fibres. These project from the CNS to the autonomic ganglia. The latter are called preganglionic fibres, and those that connect the ganglia to their target organs are called postganglionic fibres. The sensory nerves of the internal organs are known as visceral afferents.
Chapter
Epilepsy
This chapter provides an overview of epilepsy. Epilepsy is diagnosed when patients suffer repeated epileptic seizures, which are sudden episodes of abnormal bursts of excitatory brain activity, leading to transient motor, autonomic, psychic, or sensory dysfunction. The chapter focuses on glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) while highlighting the role of the major excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter systems in the brain. It then elaborates on older, first-generation antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and newer, second-generation AEDs used to treat epilepsy. However, all epileptic drugs have a limited window for effective treatment with minimum adverse effects, so dosage and monitoring plasma levels of the drug are very important.
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Pain and its drug treatment
This chapter looks into the idea of pain and its subsequent drug treatment. It explains the influence of environment and psychological state on the intensity of pain. Pain typically happens in response to packaged information reaching the brain from the spinal cord, but the pain itself arises in the brain. The chapter then discusses the levels and processes of pain perception, while explaining that visual analogue and verbal rating scales are the most common tools used to determine pain severity and to assist in the choice of analgesia. The chapter provides an overview of how analgesic drugs are used to relieve pain.
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Neuronal processing of sensory information
This chapter looks at how organisms distinguish behaviorally relevant information from behaviorally irrelevant background noise, and how recognition of such behaviorally important information is achieved at the neural level. It uses two particularly well-examined model systems to provide effective illustrations: the recognition of prey and predators in the toad and the directional localization of sound in the barn owl. Before delving into the details of those models, the chapter first reviews some ethological concepts that are crucial in understanding how the sensory organs and the brain process behaviorally relevant sensory stimuli. It explains the concept of Umwelt, the part of the environment which is perceived after sensory and central filtering. It also sheds light on sign stimulus or the component of the environment that triggers a specific behavior. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the law of heterogeneous summation and the Gestalt principle.
Chapter
Cortical States
Edited by George J. Augustine, Jennifer Groh, Scott Huettel, Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, Leonard E. White, and Dale Purves,
This chapter examines how the brain and the rest of the nervous system regulate changes across cortical states, and how this physiological regulation contributes to consciousness and awareness. Nearly all animals exhibit a restorative cycle of rest following daily activity, but only some animals organize the period of rest into distinct phases of non-REM and REM sleep. A complex physiological interplay involving the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex controls the degree of mental alertness on a continuum from deep sleep to wakeful attentiveness. A circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus in turn influences these systems, adjusting cortical and other physiological states to appropriate durations during the 24-hour cycle of light and darkness that is fundamental to life on Earth. Recent research seeks to understand the puzzling question of why large regions of the cortex are more active at rest than when an individual is performing a task.
Chapter
The Integrative Study of Behavior
This chapter provides an overview of the integrative study of animal behavior. It discusses the development of song learning through the function of bird songs, which then highlights the role of early life social experiences and interactions within vocal development. A comparative approach allows researchers to learn about when an ancestral bird species starts learning its species-specific song. The chapter details the operation of the avian song-learning mechanism by considering parts of the brain, such as the nuclei and neural circuits. It also highlights the adaptive value of song learning, citing that male bird species still learn songs despite the reproductive disadvantages of song-dialect learning.
