PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Electric Current, Hypothalamus, Peripheral Nervous System
21 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
Anatomy of the nervous system: glial cells (greek glue, provide structural support and insulation for neurons, outnumber neurons 10:1, help nervous system process, neurons, receive information, integrate information, transmit information. Motor neurons: transmit messages to the muscles that move the body. Sensory neurons: receive information from outside the nervous system. Parts: cell body, dendrite, axon, myelin sheath, terminal buttons, Absolute refractory period: minimum length of time after an action potential during which another action potential cannot begin. Transmission of neural signal: all or none law, intensity of stimulus, #of neurons firing, frequency of individual neurons. Synaptic transmission: postsynaptic potential (psp, voltage charge at receptor site, p p"s are graded, i. e. they increase or decrease the probability of a neural impulse in the recieveing cell in proportion to their size. T(cid:455)pes of p p"s: excitatory psp, increase the likelihood that the postsynaptic neuron will fire, depolarizes membrane. 2: inhibitory psp, decreases the likelihood that the postsynaptic neuron will fire, hyperpolarizes membrane.
