PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Hypothalamus, Resting Potential, Neuroglia
Document Summary
Module 3. 2: how the nervous system works: cells and neurotransmitters. Human body is composed of many different types of cells. Psychologists are most interested in neurons: neurons = major types of cells found in the nervous system responsible for sending and receiving messages throughout the body. Primary purpose of neurons is to (cid:862)fire(cid:863: receive input from one group of neurons transmit that information to other neurons. All neurons have a cell body (known as the soma: contains the nucleus that holds the cell"s ge(cid:374)etic (cid:373)aterial, genes in the cell body synthesize proteins, forming chemicals and structures that allow the neuron to function. Influenced by the input coming from other cells, which is received by dendrites: dendrites = small branches from the cell body that receive messages from other cells and sends those messages to the rest of the cell. Impulses from other cells will travel across the neuron to the axon hillock (base of the cell body)