Somatic nervous system: and functions

The essential function of the nervous system is communication, this occurs both with the environment around us and with the inside of our body, depending on its functions the nervous system is divided into somatic nervous system (SNS) and autonomic nervous system (SNA).

The somatic nervous system is a complex system, it is the part of the nervous system responsible for transporting sensory information to the central nervous system, that is, the somatic nervous system is responsible for the body’s communication with the external environment.

  • During this time.
  • The SNA is responsible for the communication of organs between them.
  • Which helps maintain homeostasis.

NSS acts through skeletal muscles, regulating voluntary actions and reflexes, thanks to its receptors, this system captures the changes that occur.

Thus, motor fibers located in the somatic nervous system have certain characteristics that differentiate them from autonomous fibers:

To perceive a sensation, information must reach the cerebral cortex, so the pathway is the path that takes information through a set of neurons that connect the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system.

However, for a sensory stimulus to reach its destination, the central nervous system must move from receptors to CNS, through connection with three neurons.

In the somatosensory cortex there is a proportional representation to the sensitivity of different parts of the body (1), in this representation not all areas are the same size, areas such as fingertips or lips are the most prominent in this representation.

There are different types of sensory pathways. Depending on the sensory modality they conduct, they are divided into:

To convey the sensation, nerve impulses travel through a three-neuron relay:

Before reaching the cortex, where the sensation is interpreted, all sensory information is processed in the thalamus (except the olfactory), then integrated into the parietal cortex, where sensitivity is normally integrated.

When we reach out to grab something, this mental treatment requires contraction and relaxation of the muscles in your arms and hands.

This is what the roads do: they drive the nerve impulse of the central nervous system to the skeletal muscles (somatic effectors), so the neurons involved in this process are the motor neurons, located in the anterior spinal cord.

The motorway system is divided into three brochures, depending on the origin and termination of the nerves:

Therefore, we can conclude that the somatic nervous system is a complex system, to produce movement several connections occur from the central nervous system that allow the final action.

The same is true when someone touches or touches an object: for our brain to perceive movement, many neurons and areas are involved in the process.

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