Question 1 – Imagine that you are driving a car down the lake shore, and you hear a siren approaching. Beginning with the transmission of the receptor potential, identify the areas of the brain that would be involved in the neurological response to the stimulus. What parts of the brain does the signal activate, how does it get there, what happens there as a result of the signal, and what is the output?

Specify whether each response is somesthetic or autonomic; and whether the response is reflexive or voluntary, cognitive or subconscious.

Be sure to include at least four parts of the nervous system, (not including the optic and auditory organs and their sensory nerves) involved in the response. Do not limit your discussion to neuromuscular interactions.

Question 2 – Diabetics typically suffer from neuropathies: damage to the nerves that causes pain, tingling, and eventual loss of function. Neuropathies in the lower limbs can be due to local damage to peripheral nerves in the feet and ankles, or to damage that occurs in the lumbar plexus.

Looking at the diagram and the anatomic relations of the nerves in the lower limbs, describe what differences that you should be able to observe in order to differentiate between peripheral and lumbar plexus neuropathies for an individual complaining of pain or tingling in the feet and ankles.

In what way should the experience of the neuropathy differ between these two causes?

Question 3 – The finger movements necessary to produce the “Vulcan salute” can only be made correctly with practice.

Examine the neuromuscular interactions that are responsible for this situation. How do the nerves, muscles, bones, and joints interact in making this hand sign in a way that is different from the unmodified (or unpracticed) movements of these structures in the hand? What has to be modified for a successful Vulcan salute?

Be sure to identify the muscles that contribute to these actions and the nerves that supply them, and to describe how the interactions of the nerves with the muscles, bones, and joints accomplish this phenomenon.

Anatomically speaking, explain why this movement is difficult to do unless one specifically learns the correct actions (what nerves supply the “normal/natural” actions of these muscles and how their activation must be changed to produce these movements of the bones and joints)

In addition, identify where the “motor program” needs to be modified … at the level of the hand muscles, in the spinal cord, or in the brain (and where in the brain)..so that this movement can be done smoothly with practice.

HINT: remember that this assignment is in the unit on the brain and nervous system, so your answers should be focused accordingly. There are 2 larger photos in the CONTENT page of D2L that you can use to start your analysis.