PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Semipermeable Membrane, Myelin, Resting Potential

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Neuron a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. Sensory (afferent) neurons neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord in the cns. Motor (efferent) neurons neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord (cns) to the muscles and glands. Interneurons neurons within the brain and spinal cord (cns) that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs. Dendrites a neuron"s busy, branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body (soma). Axon the neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscle or glands. The hillock is an enlarged region where an axon attaches to the cell body. Myelin sheath a fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node of ranvier to the next.