Module 03 — Coordination and Control · quiz worth 20 pts · 2026-10-14
Direction separates sensory from motor and CNS from PNS roles.
Dendrites receive; the cell body integrates.
The axon conducts toward terminals, often faster with myelin.
Afferent goes toward the CNS; efferent goes from the CNS to an effector.
A pain signal travels from the foot toward the spinal cord. Afferent or efferent?
Afferent, because it is sensory input moving toward the CNS.
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Dendrites receive signals, the cell body contains the nucleus and integrates input, and the axon conducts an impulse toward axon terminals. Terminals communicate with another neuron, muscle, or gland across a synapse. Myelin insulates many axons and speeds conduction between gaps called nodes.
The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. It receives information, integrates it, stores and retrieves some information, and coordinates responses. Protective structures include the skull, vertebral column, meninges, and cerebrospinal fluid.
The peripheral nervous system includes nerves and ganglia outside the brain and spinal cord. Sensory or afferent pathways carry information toward the CNS. Motor or efferent pathways carry commands away from the CNS to muscles and glands.
The somatic nervous system controls skeletal muscle and includes conscious movement plus somatic reflexes. The autonomic nervous system regulates cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, and glands. Its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions often adjust the same organ in different directions.
A disorder can affect neurons, myelin, central pathways, peripheral nerves, or neurotransmitter systems. Bell's palsy affects facial nerve function, Parkinson's disease disrupts movement-control circuits, and multiple sclerosis damages CNS myelin. Symptoms alone do not identify a cause; location and evidence matter.
Decide which neuron part or nervous-system division carries each step.
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