PSYCH 1XX3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5.5: Saltatory Conduction, Peripheral Nervous System, Central Nervous System
18 Apr 2017
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The process of cascading action potentials along the axon maintains the signal, but can be too slow for efficient communication. Clever solution: special glial cells called myelin which coat many axons with fatty, insulating tissue o o. In the peripheral nervous system - schwann cells. However, the signal can be re-strengthened at the nodes through ion channel cascades before continuing along: through this process, a signal can travel through a long axon very rapidly without any loss of strength. Neurons encode signals through frequency, not size, of action potentials: recall: immediately following an action potential is the refractory period during which another action potential cannot begin. However, shortly thereafter the neuron can potentially fire again, triggering another action potential cascade. In this way, a strong signal will lead to many sequential action potentials, while a weak signal will lead to fewer action potentials.
