PSYC 2000 Chapter : OutlineBiologicalPerspectives
Document Summary
Neurons- the basic unit of the nervous system. There may be 100 billion neurons in your brain. Help neurons in many ways (facilitate communication, cleaning up, etc) There are many glial cells (90% vs. the 10% of neurons) Glial cells- comes from the greek word for glue . Neural communication: dendrite- receive incoming messages; conduct impulses toward cell body, axon- single extended fiber, end in terminal buttons; messages sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands. Myelin- a fatty substance that forms a protective coating around the axon of a neuron. A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon: threshold. The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse. Tiny gap between an axon terminal and another neuron. Firing neurons release neurotransmitters that cross the synapse. Neural firing drives them to the synapse, where the release their chemicals. The neurotransmitter binds to the receptor site on the target cell.
