Describe the peripheral nervous system including its subsystems and their basic functions
What will be an ideal response?
The peripheral nervous system is comprised of both the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The somatic nervous system innervates the skeletal muscles (striated muscles), the skin, and the sense organs. This bidirectional neural network transmits information from the brain to the periphery (the outer regions) and vice versa. The neural pathways that send signals from the brain to the periphery are called efferent and those that send signals from the periphery to the brain are called afferent.
In the somatic nervous system efferent pathways carry messages from the motor areas of the neocortex to the striated (red colored) muscles to facilitate voluntary motor movement. Afferent pathways carry sensory information from the sense receptors to the sensory areas of the neocortex through the sensory projection systems. During the fight-or-flight response the brain sends messages through the efferent neurons to the striated muscles to tense in preparation for physical action.
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