We dedicate this book to Mr. Wilson because he taught us about the nervous system and now we want to teach it to his future students!

I think I can help you out Patrick, I just need to refresh my brain on what I know about the Nervous System.

Hey Spongebob, I really need to perfect and study the Nervous System and I really need your help!

Thank you Spongebob! The first thing I want to master is the difference between the Peripheral and Central Nervous System. What is the difference?

After studying last night, I remembered that the Central Nervous System is made up of the brain and spinal cord, but the Peripheral Nervous System is made up of nerves.

You almost got the definition there Patrick, but actually the Spinal Meninges DO isolate the spinal cord from surroundings and some of the functions of the spinal meninges include protecting the spinal cord and carrying blood supply.

I have been studying so much last night Spongebob and I can even tell you what Meninges are! They are specialized membranes that don't isolate the spinal cord from surroundings. The spinal meninges continue up around the brain and are called the cranial meninges.

Come back to my house Patrick and let's call Squidward because we both know how much he loves hanging out with us! But first, tell me what you know about the Spinal Cord. 

YAY!!! I can't wait! Fine...I guess I'll tell you what I know so far. I know that the spinal cord is about 18 in or 45 cm long from the base of the cranium to where it connects through the foramen magnum which is fun fact, the hole of the occipital bone down to the L1 vertebrae.

Great job Patrick! Also Patrick, the Spinal Cord can be divided into 31 segements, each of which has a pair of spinal nerves branching off.

So that would mean that the roots of these nerves exit through the intervertebral foramen between each vertebrae.

Squidward: Did you guys seriously ask me to hang out just to hear you guys talk about some foreign topic I don't know about???????

You see, white matter consists of myelinated neurons! In relation to gray matter, white matter is superficial! Ascending tracts bring sensory information to the brain, while descending tracts bring motor commands to the effectors. These effectors include muscles and glands!

OHHHH THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW!

And gray matter consists of neurons that are not myelinated. This matter does the processing for spinal reflexes. When you think of gray matter, I want you to think of the word "processing"

Also Patrick, mixed functionality means that the nerve carries both sensory and motor information. So, they carry information both ways!

AWESOME!

And spinal nerves contain axons, blood vessels, and connective tissue that binds everything together! All spinal nerves have mixed functionality!

Also Patrick! You should know about Each Major Plexus in the nervous system. make sure you study They all the functions of the cervical, brachial, lumbar, and sacral plexuses. They are really important!

But Patrick make sure you know the nerves that are going to be on the test today, Like the Abducens Nerve that controls eye movement, and don’t forget the Vagus Nerve that controls Sensory, motor functions and the Hypoglossal Nerve that Controls muscles of the tongue and Spinal Accessory Nerve that Controls muscles used in head movement!

OH OK! thanks sponge bob!

 did you know spinal reflex works because of stretch receptors in the muscle or nociceptors in the skin that activate spinal motor neurons to evoke twitches in particular somatic muscles.

I didn't know that, but now I do! Thanks Spongebob! Now let's talk about the Cerebrum. The Cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and controls all conscious thoughts and intellectual functions.

Great job Patrick! Did you know that there are sulci that are standard in the human brain and these sulci mark the boundaries between the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes.

SPONGEBOB!!! You forgot the locations of the lobes!!! The frontal lobes are on the front of the brain, the temporal lobes are on the side of the brain, the occipital lobe is on the back of the brain, and the parietal lobe is located in the middle of the frontal and occipital lobe. The lobes are also symmetrical on both hemispheres of the brain.

My bad! You're doing a great job at studying this topic Patrick! Now let's talk about contra lateral. Each cerebral hemisphere receives sensory information from, and sends motor commands, to the opposite side of the body known as contra lateral.

That might be hard to remember. Let's watch some TV. Look! There's an ad about the cerebal cortex! It said that the surface of each hemisphere of the cerebrum is composed of a layer of gray matter called the cerebral cortex and is heavily folded!! I LEARNED ABOUT THAT!

You missed an important part of information about the cerebral cortex Patrick! There are ridges on the surface called gyri and the grooves are called sulci. Don't forget!

Patrick, do you know what cerebrospinal fluid is? This fluid surrounds the brain in order to protect it from physical injury! It also maintains the chemical environment of the brain.

The cerebrum is the largest part of our brain! It is responsible for conscious thoughts and voluntary movement! The cerebrum is also divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, and vice versa!

And Patrick, the cerebellum is located just below the occipital lobe of the cerebrum! This part of the brain is responsible fore fine tuning and adjusting our movements by slightly tweaking the sensory information that is being processed!

Let's take a walk! Before I give you this piece of chocolate, can you tell me how the corpus callousum is significant for the brain?

Ohhh that looks so good! I have to get this right! The corpus callosum is a passageway that lets the brain send signals back and forth. How did I do?

Spot on! One important detail though is that the corpus callosum also binds the left and right hemispheres together, but that's not as important as what you told me.

Oh Gary this movie is so funny! I'm going to laugh even harder tomorrow when Patrick finds out what the Basal Ganglia does for the brain!! Let me just review it with you first. The Basal Ganglia are masses of gray matter embedded in white matter that are involved with the subconscious control of skeletal muscle tone and coordination of learned movement patterns. They help with rhythm, pattern of movements, and processing signals before moving on to the brain stem or spinal cord

meow

quick sponge bob tell me about the three moter areas of the cerebral cortex?

Patrick! how do you not know The motor cortex comprises three different areas of the frontal lobe, immediately anterior to the central sulcus??

Oh wow thanks! but what about 3 sensory areas now? 

The three sensory areas include the primary auditory cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and primary visual cortex. These areas receive information from the opposite side of the body. So the right somatosensory cortex receives information from the left limbs and other way around 

wow!

I know!!! and The Association areas of the cortex are located between visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortices, which make the auditory, visual, gustatory, and general sensory impulses! Isnt that awesome!