PSY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Excitatory Postsynaptic Potential, Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potential, Synaptic Plasticity
30 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Nervous system is a compel communication network. Nervous system handles information, just as the circulatory system handles blood. Neurons: cells in the nervous system that receive and transmit information. Dendrites: branch-like fibres that receive information from other neurons. Axon: tail-like part of a neuron that sends information to other neurons. Myelin sheath around the axon of some neurons is a fatty substance that acts as insulation, speeding up transmission along the axon. Multiple sclerosis associated with loss of myelin. Terminal buttons: located at the end of the axon. Synapse: where the terminal buttons meet the dendrites of another neuron they don"t actually touch. Neurotransmitter: chemicals that transmit info from one neuron to another. Arrival of an action potential at the terminal buttons triggers the release of neurotransmitter. Some neurotransmitter molecules bind to receptors in the post-synaptic neuron. The molecules that don"t bind are sponged back up by the pre-synaptic neuron (reuptake) Neurons spontaneously fire for no good reason.
