PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Afferent Nerve Fiber, Efferent Nerve Fiber, Peripheral Nervous System

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jordan Poppenk

Document Summary

Central nervous system (cns: brain, spinal cord. Peripheral nervous system (pns: skeletal nervous system. Motor or efferent: autonomic nervous system. Describe the different cells in the cns (afferent and efferent neurons, glia) and their functions. Afferent neurons carry signals towards the cns afferent means towards . They provide information about the external environment and the regulatory functions being carried out by the nervous system. An afferent neuron has a receptor at its ending that generates action potentials in response to a particular stimulus. These action potentials are transmitted along the length of the axon towards the spinal cord (which is part of the cns). Efferent neurons are mainly located in the peripheral nervous system, but their cell bodies originate in the cns. Many incoming signals from the cns converge onto the efferent neurons, which then affect the outgoing signals to various organs in the body. These organs then carry out the appropriate response.