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Introduction to the Central Nervous System: Explore your body’s command center! Virtual Lab

Enter Labster's Anatomy and Physiology lab to explore the structures and functions of the brain and spinal cord; the two elements of the central nervous system. Can you help our lab assistant struggling with aphasia understand which area of their brain might be impaired?

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Introduction to the Central Nervous System: Explore your body’s command center!

About this Simulation

In this simulation, you will explore two elements of the central nervous system, the brain, and spinal cord, by using 3D models. While learning about parts, lobes, and matters of the brain, you will help our lab assistant struggling with aphasia figure out which area of their brain might be impaired. You will also investigate sections of the spinal cord and realize how this highway of information makes us up and running every day.

Explore the main parts of the brain

Hop into our exploration mode and start the investigation by identifying four main parts of the brain. Observe the sections of the brain responsible for simple tasks like breathing and running, and more complex cognitive functions like speaking and solving complicated mathematical equations. Dig deeper into their functions and try to select one of them that might be connected to our Lab Assistant’s speech impairment. Is the brain really our command center that needs to consume so much energy?

Assemble the left hemisphere

Continue your investigation using the cerebral hemisphere model. Divide the model into five lobes and learn about their structures and very specific higher cognitive functions they are involved with. Try to assemble the model back using gained anatomical knowledge and figure out which of the lobes contains the area that can be connected to the Lab Assistant’s condition. Does all the information we obtain from our internal and external environment mixed and mashed in our brain like scrambled eggs or is it pigeon-holed into imaginary lobes’ compartments?

Investigate the internal structure of the spinal cord

Finalize your investigation by diving into our own personal highway of information - the spinal cord. Learn about its main internal sections and what kind of information each section receives. Discover which horns of the spinal cord carry sensory information and which contain motor neuron axons. Understand the complexity of this double-laned highway and predict symptoms we should expect in case of damage in any of the regions.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this simulation, you will be able to:

  • Describe the overall organisation of the central nervous system

  • Identify relationships between areas of the cerebral cortex and the functions they control

  • Explain the internal structure of the spinal cord

Techniques in Lab

At the end of this simulation, you will be able to:

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