1 - intro

Question 1

What are the three anatomical planes used to describe neural structures?

Answer 1

Sagittal, coronal, and transverse (horizontal) planes.

Question 2

What are the main functional divisions of the nervous system?

Answer 2

CNS (brain and spinal cord) and PNS (somatic and autonomic systems).

Question 3

What is the role of the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 3

Controls involuntary processes such as heart rate, digestion, and glandular activity.

Question 4

What is kinesiology concerned with?

Answer 4

The assessment of movement, performance, and function in therapeutic and rehabilitative contexts.

Question 5

What is rehabilitation in kinesiology?

Answer 5

Therapeutic intervention focused on maintaining, restoring, or enhancing movement for daily function.

Question 6

What are the main areas of movement neuroscience?

Answer 6

Neurophysiology of movement, behavioral and psychological expressions, and neuroplasticity.

Question 7

What characterizes normal human movement?

Answer 7

It is mostly autIomatic and coordinated, with volitional control emerging when patterns change or adapt.

Question 8

What are the stages of behavioral movement expression?

Answer 8

Prenatal sensory motor development, postnatal sensory motor plasticity, and emergent conscious encoding via environment.

Question 9

What is neuroplasticity?

Answer 9

The brain’s ability to reorganize and adapt structurally and functionally in response to experience or injury.

Question 10

List the major parts of the brain and their primary roles.

Answer 10

Cerebrum (conscious thought and voluntary action), cerebellum (coordination), brainstem (vital autonomic control).

Question 11

What percentage of neurons are contained in the cerebellum?

Answer 11

About 50% of all neurons in the brain.

Question 12

What are the four main lobes of the cerebrum?

Answer 12

Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes.

Question 13

Where is the primary somatosensory cortex located?

Answer 13

In the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe.

Question 14

What is the sensory homunculus?

Answer 14

A cortical map showing sensory input distribution for body regions.

Question 15

Where is the primary motor cortex located?

Answer 15

In the precentral gyrus of the frontal lobe.

Question 16

What is the motor homunculus?

Answer 16

A cortical map showing voluntary motor control distribution for body regions.

Question 17

What are the three hierarchical centers of motor control?

Answer 17

Cognitive stage (cerebral hemispheres), associative stage (upper brainstem/diencephalon), and autonomous stage (pons, cerebellum, medulla).

Question 18

What are the roles of these control stages?

Answer 18

Cognitive: planning; Associative: coordination; Autonomous: reflex and instinctive drives.

Question 19

What is grey matter composed of?

Answer 19

Neuron cell bodies.

Question 20

What is white matter composed of?

Answer 20

Myelinated axon fibers.

Question 21

What is the main function of the white matter?

Answer 21

Transmission of nerve impulses between regions of the CNS.

Question 22

What are commissural tracts?

Answer 22

Axons connecting gyri between the two cerebral hemispheres (e.g., corpus callosum).

Question 23

What are association tracts?

Answer 23

Fibers connecting gyri within the same hemisphere.

Question 24

What are projection tracts?

Answer 24

Fibers transmitting signals to and from lower parts of the CNS through the thalamus.

Question 25

What is the corticospinal (pyramidal) tract responsible for?

Answer 25

Voluntary control of fast and fine movements.

Question 26

What is the key difference between upper and lower motor neurons?

Answer 26

Upper motor neurons originate in the brain; lower motor neurons project from the spinal cord to muscles.

Question 27

Describe the basic reflex arc.

Answer 27

1) Receptor detects stimulus 2) Sensory neuron sends signal 3) Integration center processes 4) Motor neuron responds 5) Effector executes response.

Question 28

What are the main categories of disease in neurophysiology?

Answer 28

Developmental, inflammatory, neoplastic, degenerative, metabolic, iatrogenic, and idiopathic.

Question 29

What are the four key aspects of disease in clinical pathology?

Answer 29

Etiology (cause), pathogenesis (mechanism), morphology (structural changes), and functional consequences.

Question 30

Define muscle fatigue.

Answer 30

A decline in the ability of a muscle to generate force, due to exercise or interference with contraction mechanisms.

Question 31

Define spasticity.

Answer 31

Continuous muscle contraction causing stiffness or tightness, often from brain or spinal cord damage.

Question 32

Define tetany.

Answer 32

Muscular spasms due to calcium deficiency or parathyroid malfunction.

Question 33

Define atrophy.

Answer 33

Tissue breakdown and reabsorption due to disuse, disease, or lack of trophic support.

Question 34

What is systemic pathology?

Answer 34

Study of disease mechanisms across organ systems, including cardiovascular, respiratory, CNS, and musculoskeletal.

Question 35

Who is considered the father of microscopic pathology?

Answer 35

Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902).

Question 36

What are the general pathophysiological processes covered in this course?

Answer 36

Congenital abnormalities, trauma, inflammation, metabolic degeneration, aging brain diseases, neuromuscular disorders, and psychomotor dysfunction.