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My name is Samuel Asala,
Professor of Anatomical Sciences
from the College of Health Sciences
at the University of Abuja, Nigeria.
The title of this talk is: Introduction
to the Peripheral Nervous System.
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The objectives of this lecture are to
define the functional relationship
between the peripheral nervous system and
other parts of the nervous system,
to describe the structures that constitute
the peripheral nervous system and
to differentiate between the somatic and
autonomic nervous components of
the peripheral nervous system.
You will be able to name the 12 cranial
nerves in relation to their functions,
and group the spinal nerves and
relate them to nerve plexuses
that are associated with them.
0:47
The plan of the lecture is
as shown on this slide.
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The central nervous system is functionally
similar to the central processing unit or
the processor and
hard drive of the computer.
Two types of computer peripherals,
the input and the output,
enable the user to interact
with the computer.
Inputs receive information from the user,
and outputs give information
to the user in response to the commands
of the central processing unit.
These peripherals are equivalent
to the afferent and
efferent nerve processes
in the nervous system.
The nerve processes constitute
the peripheral nervous system.
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The general function of the nervous
system may be illustrated by a 'Report,
Process & Command, Delivery' system.
A group of nerves called afferent nerves,
by means of the impulses carried in them,
report events in different parts of
the body to the central nervous system.
The central nervous system receives and
processes the information,
stores some of the information and the
results of the processing in the memory,
some of the afferent information
bypasses the main processing areas of
the central nervous system and
gets stored in memory.
The interplay between
information processing and
memory parts of the central nervous
system influences the future
responses of the central nervous
systems to similar impulses.
At the end of the information processing,
the central nervous
system issues commands.
These commands are passed along another
group of nerves called the efferent
nerves, to peripheral target
organs such as muscles and glands.
Afferent and efferent nerves constitute
the peripheral nervous system.
The nervous system is an aggregate
of nerve tissue that regulates and
