Feedback Loops
Summary
This video discusses negative and positive feedback loops, how they tie into the body’s mechanism of internal regulation, and what happens when these mechanisms fail. Thermoregulation, contractions during childbirth, and blood glucose regulation are used to illustrate how feedback loops pass information in the body to maintain homeostasis or elicit a particular biological response.
Learning Objectives
After watching this video students will be able to:
- Identify the general components of a feedback loop.
- Provide examples of negative and positive feedback loops in the body.
- Describe how feedback loops are vital to healthy function and survival.
Funding provided by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
Developed by the Teaching and Learning Laboratory (TLL) at MIT for SUTD
MIT © 2012
It is highly recommended that the video is paused when prompted so that students are able to attempt the activities on their own and then check their solutions against the video.
During the video, students will:
- Categorize given physiological processes as involving negative or positive feedback loops.
- Identify the receptor, control center, and effectors in blood glucose regulation.
- Identify the parts of the feedback loop that break down in Type I and Type II diabetes.
