PSY 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Electric Charge, Neocortex, Resting Potential

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2301
• Professor: Patrick Davidson

Document Summary

Searching for electrical activity in the nervous system. Early clues that linked electricity and neuronal activity. Electrical stimulation of the neocortex causes movement (arms and legs) Flow of information in the nervous system is too slow to be a flow of electricity. It is not the ions themselves that travel along the axon but rather a wave of charge (bernstein, 1886) How the movement of ions causes electrical charges. Movement of ions from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration through random motion. Differences in concentration of a substance among regions of a container allow the substance to diffuse from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. Difference in charge between two regions that allows a flow of current if the two regions are connected. Ions will move down a voltage gradient from an area of higher charge to an area of lower charge.