Describe fight/flight response, referring to the role of the autonomic nervous system.
Is this answer appropriate ...?
When a threat is perceived, the autonomic nervous system is activated and the sympathetic nervous system is subsequently activated allowing thr organism to respond the the that threatening stimulus by either confronting it (fight) or escaping (flight).
***or should i write about adrenal glands and how some organs' acitivty is increased and others decreased?
You could probably express this a bit better. The sympathetic nervous system is just a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system, so if you say that the "autonomic nervous system" activates you're implying that the sympathetic division also has activated. I'd just stick with something like "the sympathetic nervous system is activated", or if you wanted to, "the sympathetic nervous system - a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system - is activated".
Depending on how many marks the question was worth I'd write something along the lines of...
- A threat is perceived, triggering the release of neurohormones (ie. CRH) from the hypothalamus
- These neurohormones trigger release of ACTH into the bloodstream from the anterior pituitary gland
- ACTH stimulates release of adrenaline and cortisol from the adrenal glands
- Adrenaline activates the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers a variety of responses (eg. dilation of the pupils to allow more light into the eyes, increase in heart rate to increase blood flow to muscles)
- Cortisol increases release of glucose into the bloodstream from the liver
- More rapid transport of glucose to muscles and other organs allows cellular energy to be generated more rapidly and hence allows the organism to more effectively confront the perceived threat or flee
You'd only be expected to write that much if the question were worth 4-5 marks (which I really doubt would happen
![Tongue :P](https://www.atarnotes.com/forum/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
)
It's also important that you write "perceived" threat
Hope that helps
![Smiley :)](https://www.atarnotes.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)