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Animals: Human Nervous System

Author: Amanda Soderlind

Human Nervous System

Your nervous system is the system in your body that allows you to receive information from your environment and respond to that information appropriately. Your nervous system can respond to what is happening inside or outside your body. A nerve cell is called a neuron and is made up of an axon and a dendrite which carry impulses to and from the cell. Your nervous system has three types of neurons which are sensory neurons, interneurons and motor neurons. Impulses travel to neurons in that order as well. First a sensory neuron picks up stimuli, your brain interprets impulses from an interneuron and a motor neuron reacts to the impulse.  As an impulse is traveling through your nervous system it will encounter synapses. These are gaps between neurons that require chemicals to carry the impulse across the gap. Somatic nerves control voluntary actions such as picking up a pencil while autonomic nerves control involuntary actions such as reflexes.   

 

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