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 1.  Name and explain the importance of the six ways that the nervous system contributes to homeostasis and quality of life.

 2.  Name and briefly explain the purposes of the three main functions of neurons (i.e., reception, conduction, transmission).

 3.  Briefly describe the purposes (not the parts) of sensory neurons, somatic motor neurons, autonomic motor neurons, reflexes, conscious sensation, and voluntary motor pathways. 

 4.  Name two age changes in the functioning (not structure) of skin receptors and skin sensory neurons  and describe how they affect the nervous system's abilities to contribute to homeostasis and quality of life.

 5.  Name and describe two effects of aging on the ability to smell, and describe two outcomes from these age changes.

 6.  Describe the overall effects of aging on taste sensations.

 7.  Name two age changes in sensory function other than changes in skin sensations, sense of smell, or sense of taste, and describe an outcome from each age change you select.

 8.  Describe two functional (not structural) outcomes in muscles from age changes in somatic motor neurons, and give an example of how these outcomes might affect a person's homeostasis or quality of life.

 9.  Choose two age changes in autonomic motor functions and briefly describe their effects on homeostasis or quality of life.

10.  Describe the overall effects of age changes in autonomic motor functioning.

11.  Describe the basic operation and overall purposes of reflexes.

Name four age changes in the functioning of reflexes, describe the effects of these changes on homeostasis and quality of life, and list four specific reflexes that show normal age changes.

13.  Describe three overall results of nervous system aging on conscious sensation, and explain the effects from these changes on homeostasis and quality of life.

14.  Describe the overall effects of nervous system aging on voluntary movement, and explain the effects from these changes on homeostasis and quality of life.

15.  Describe the age changes in the numbers of CNS neurons and CNS synapses, the overall effects from these changes, and the reasons for these effects.

16.  Describe or define the meaning of the following aspects of mental activity.


17.  Describe the effects of aging on three different types or aspects of memory or thinking (any combination of three changes), personality, and one change in sleep. Types of memory include short term, long term, incidental, procedural, explicit, implicit, episodic, working. Types of thinking (intelligence) include crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.

18.  List methods for improving memory functions.

19.  Describe the importance of biorhythms and average age changes in biorhythms.

20.  Describe the overall effects of nervous system age changes on the system's ability to maintain homeostasis and quality of life.

21.  For strokes, indicate that strokes are diseases (not age changes), and give the following information.

22.  For dementia, indicate that dementias are abnormal (not age changes) and give the following information.

23.  Explain how multi-infarct dementia develops.

24.  For Alzheimer's disease, provide the following information.

25.  Describe or explain how factors found in Alzheimer's disease are believed to cause decreased brain functioning.

26.  List and describe genes influential in the development of AD.

27.  For Parkinson disease, provide the following information.

28.  Describe dementia with Lewy bodies.

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