The nervous system's main responsibility is to maintain homeostasis, that is to keep controlled conditions within limits that maintain health, by employing nerve impulses or action potentials that quickly respond to stimuli and permit the brain to adjust body processes accordingly. The integrative function is responsible for not only analyzing sensory information, but also for storing certain aspects, and then executing decisions concerning appropriate behavior.
Motor function responds to stimuli by initiating muscular contractions or glandular secretions.
To understand the pathway of an action potential sent to the brain, one must understand basic anatomy of nervous tissue. Nerve cells or neurons function in thinking, memory, muscular activity and glandular regulation. However they cannot undergo mitosis and therefore have no regenerative ability. Dendrites and axons are often collectively called nerve fibers because they both participate in the conduction of an action potential to the brain. Dendrites are the receiving portion of the neuron, characteristically short, tapered and highly branched.