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Brain and neuropsychologyCentral Nervous SystemApplication

AQA GCSE · Question 14

Read the following conversation.

Arun: Today, we learned that the central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord. Did you know that even though the brain is only 2% of the total body mass, it uses 20% of the oxygen that we breathe in?
Dad: I didn't know that. What else did you learn?
Arun: We learnt that damage to the central nervous system can cause lots of different problems including difficulty concentrating and making decisions. Other signs of damage would be numbness and difficulties in moving the arms or legs.
Dad: It sounds like the central nervous system has some very important functions.

Briefly outline the basic functions of the central division of the human nervous system.
Refer to the conversation to support your answer.

How to approach this question

1. Identify the key components of the CNS mentioned in the conversation (brain and spinal cord). 2. Recall the main functions of the CNS. 3. Read Arun's comments carefully and find phrases that match these functions. 4. Structure your answer by stating a function and then quoting or paraphrasing from the conversation to provide evidence for it.

Full Answer

The central nervous system (CNS) has two main functions. Firstly, the brain is responsible for complex psychological processes and decision making. Arun refers to this when he mentions that damage to the CNS can cause 'difficulty concentrating and making decisions'. Secondly, the CNS controls behaviour and movement. The brain sends signals down the spinal cord to the muscles. Arun's comment supports this function when he says that damage can lead to 'difficulties in moving the arms or legs'. The spinal cord also relays sensory information from the body to the brain, and damage can affect this, as mentioned by Arun with the symptom of 'numbness'.
The central nervous system (CNS), consisting of the brain and spinal cord, is the body's main processing centre. Its functions can be broadly categorised: 1. **Psychological Processes & Consciousness**: The brain is the seat of all conscious awareness, thoughts, memories, and emotions. The conversation links to this with 'difficulty concentrating and making decisions'. 2. **Control of Behaviour**: The brain and spinal cord control all voluntary and involuntary movements by sending nerve impulses to muscles. The conversation links to this with 'difficulties in moving the arms or legs'. 3. **Relaying Information**: The spinal cord relays sensory information from the peripheral nervous system to the brain and motor information from the brain to the body. The conversation links to this with 'numbness', which is a failure of sensory information transmission.

Common mistakes

Simply quoting from the text without explaining the underlying psychological function. For example, just writing 'It helps with making decisions and moving legs' is not as good as explaining that these relate to the functions of psychological processing and motor control.
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