Nervous System Vocabulary:
How Much Do You Know?

You can practice nervous system vocabulary with the crossword below. All the words in the puzzle are included in the introduction. (The purpose of this overview is to demonstrate the vocabulary in context.)

So if you need more than the crossword clues to guess a word, look through the introduction to find it.

Click here to go directly to the crossword puzzle.

Introduction to the Nervous (or Neurological) System

The nervous system is the body’s communication network.

In a healthy person, individual nerve cells (neurons) carry sensory messages from all parts of the body (the peripheral nerves) to the spinal cord and up it to the brain.

(The brain and spinal cord make up the Central Nervous System.)

Then motor (or locomotor) neurons carry messages from the brain back to the different parts of the body, telling the hand or foot to move, etc.

Neurons are very unusual cells. They are designed for carrying electrical impulses for long distances through the body. Most neurons have a long, thin extension called an axon that reaches far beyond the cell’s nucleus. Many axons are protected by a fatty covering called myelin.

Neurons also have dendrites. They are like little branches off the nucleus or axon that come close to the dendrites of other neurons. Synapses are the tiny gaps (spaces) between neurons. The neurons use chemicals called neurotransmitters to send messages across the synapses. That's the way neurons pass on messages.

These neural signals (electrical or chemical messages) direct our movements. If there is a sudden abnormal surge of electrical activity, it can cause a seizure with muscle convulsions.

Irregular electrical activity can also cause tremors or twitching (jerky small muscle contractions). A deficit or excess of any of the neurotransmitters can also cause serious problems.

Doctors may tap a knee or foot at an exact place to check for reflexes. (Reflexes are involuntary muscle contractions-- contractions not under our conscious control. They show that the nerves in that area can respond to stimulation.)

Reflexes are important when the body needs to act instantly, without thought. For example, if you touch a hot stove your hand should immediately jerk away. That reflex action that could protect you from a serious burn.

If the spinal cord is cut, crushed, or otherwise injured, some or all electrical messages may be blocked. Those messages are unable to reach their destination and tell that part of the body to move. This can result in partial or complete paralysis. 

Recently, neuroscientists have discovered that under certain conditions nerves can regenerate. Earlier scientists had believed they could not because nerve repair is much slower than in other body tissues like the skin.

Partial sensory nerve blockages can result in numbness—an inability to feel in that part of the body. (A dentist will deliberately numb part of the mouth before working on it.)

Problems can also originate in the brain. For example, in a cerebrovascular accident (also called a CVA or stroke), the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly blocked.

A CVA can result from either an embolism blocking a blood vessel or from hemorrhage. Stroke victims may lose part of their ability to move their right or left side, or their speech may be affected. The damage depends on the area of the brain where the blockage occurs.

Neurological diseases include cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, and many other less common conditions.

Crossword Puzzle on Nervous System Vocabulary

To download the crossword puzzle, click here. (The answers are here.) Again, if you need a clue, see the explanations above.

You might also be interested in Psychology Vocabulary (an overview with links to more psych vocabulary pages and then a quiz) or Science Vocabulary (a matching game, again with links to other related vocabulary pages.)

Home> Online Vocabulary Games in English > Nervous System Vocabulary: a Crossword.