PSY 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Acetylcholine, Reuptake, Analgesic

• School: University of Kentucky
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 100
• Professor: Andrea Friedrich

Document Summary

Dendrites: branching extensions that receive chemicals messages and conduct them to the cell body. Cell body : contains the neuron"s nucleus (with dna and typical nuclear organelles) Axon: take information away from the body cell to other neurons or to muscles or glands. Action potential (impulse) : occurs when chemicals contact the surface of the neuron (changing the balance of ions) and a brief electrical charge travels down the axon. Myelin sheath: fatty tissue that covers the axon of some neuron and helps speed neural impulses. Threshold: there is a certain level of stimulation that is required to trigger an action potential. All or none principle: if the threshold is not reached then no action potentials will fire; if the threshold is reached, an action potential(always the same size) will fire. Synapse: the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap.