Activity 1
Your alarm clock woke you up early in the morning as a signal that you need to prepare for class. You stretched, yawned, and began to salivate as you smell the brewing coffee. Your stomach also begins to rumble. List the divisions of the nervous system that are involved in each of these responses.
- smelling the coffee and hearing the alarm are involved in the somatic sensory division since it involves stimulation of the olfactory and auditory senses into the brain.
- stretching and yawning are involved in the somatic motor division since it involves the control of motor movements/responses of the body.
- salivating is involved in the autonomic (parasympathetic) motor division since the act is involuntary and motor neurons control the salivary gland which is responsible for the secretion of saliva.
- stomach rumble is involved in the enteric motor division since it involves motor neurons that coordinates the rhythmic muscle contractions (peristalsis) in the digestive tract.