Basic Training Series: Nervous System Principle #2: UNITY

A PRINCIPLE is defined as "a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine or assumption." These principles are necessary to have a simple perspective of a very complex system. As I have started to learn more about the Nervous System, I have found that remembering these 8 Principles has made it easier to get through complexity to the simplicity of it all.


Staying with Dr. Jay Angevine from the Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, we are now at Principle #2 of UNITY.



"Unity"
As in epithelium, all parts of the nervous system are physically coherent and functionally linked by nerves, tracts, and specified cell to cell contacts. Potentially each part communicates with all others. Some connections are direct (a two-neuron, monosynaptic reflex), whereas others involve myriad interposed neurons. Though complex, neural circuits offer total connectivity: fast, body-wide communication. Nerve impulses may originate in sensory nerve endings in any part of the body or anywhere in the system itself. Responsive activity complements endogenous activity, which is always evident in the human nervous system with its startling capacity to generate patterns of behavior and initiate events on its own. Sensory impulses, triggered by PNS primary sensory neurons, race over its nerves to the CNS, there diverging to clusters of secondary sensory neurons. Analysis begins. New impulses pass to central neurons on which related messages converge, which is a recombinant process providing integration. Other messages on stimulus modality, intensity, location, affective quality, body position and movement, visceral activity, fatigue, experience, and expectations are all integrated. Huge numbers of impulses are generated; untold numbers of synapses are activated. Almost instantly, nerve impulses that will elicit bodily responses stream out of the CNS to muscles and glands."

Wow! Wow! Wow!

What an important principle of understanding the nervous system. IT'S ALL LINKED TOGETHER! Not only is it everywhere, but it's physically coherent for maximum effectiveness. Here are some gems that I took from the above paragraph:

1) Again, IT'S ALL LINKED TOGETHER. 'Nuff said. 

2) The system is communicative in nature with every part potentially being able to talk to every other part. The mode of communication (monosynaptic reflex neuron, myriad interposed neurons, etc) may be different but the end result is TOTAL full-body communication required for action.

3) The nervous system is aware of what is going on in the body at all times and is complemented by bodily responses. Because of this awareness of activity, it is able to make decisions and carry them through for the organism.

4) Because of it's unity, information of ALL kinds is gathered from the periphery and communicated to the Central Nervous System where it is then processed/integrated and turned into action.

5) All of this processing requires MANY impulses to be generated from countless synapses from countless CONNECTIONS which almost instantly creates output of some kind to muscles and glands. 

It's easy to see why UNITY would be so vital to the nervous system as it controls everything we do on conscious and non-conscious levels. If there were a break in the unity, we would see varying levels of dysfunction and distress throughout the system.

Check back Principle #3 of CENTRALIZATION.

Questions or comments? Please do not hesitate to post.

In mind, body and spirit,

Will