PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System, Neuropsychology

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Biological perspective: concerned with the links between biology and behaviour. Includes psychologists working in neuroscience, behaviour genetics, and evolutionary psychology. These researchers may call themselves behavioural neuroscientists, neuropsychologist, behaviour geneticists, physiological psychologists or biopsychologists. Neuron: a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. Dendrites: a neurons bushy, branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body. Axon: the neuron extensions that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands. Myelin sheath: a fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hope from one node to the next. Action potential: a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. Threshold: the level of stimulation required to trigger a neutral impulse. Synapse: the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.