Psychology 1000 Lecture : chapter 3 ...

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Derek Quinlan

Document Summary

Neurons- basic building blocks of the nervous system: each neuron has 3 main parts: An axon: cell body or soma- contains the biochemical structures needed to keep the neuron alive, and its nucleus carries the genetic information that determines how the cell develops and functions. Center to process and combine messages sent by neurons: dendrites- emerging from the cell body, these are branchlike fibers. They collect messages from neighboring neurons and send them on to the cell body: axon- conducts electrical impulses away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands. Blood-brain barrier- prevents many substances, including a wide range of toxins, from entering the brain. Action potential- or nerve impulse is a sudden reversal in the neuron"s membrane voltage, during which the membrane voltage momentarily moves from -70 millivolts (inside) to +40 millivolts. Depolarization- this (^) shift from negative to positive.