Neural Communication and Impulses
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31 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Synaptic Transmission | How a neuron communicates to other neurons releasing chemical messengers. |
| Synaptic Gap | The Junction between the axon tip of the sending neurons and the dendrite or cell body of the recieving neuron. |
| Neurotransmitters | Chemical messengers that traverse the synapic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse. Molecular structure that precisely fits certain receptor sites (Like a key). |
| Pre-synaptic Membrane | The terminal of the axon of the neuron sending a message. |
| Post-synaptic Membrane | The terminal of the axon terminal receiving the message. |
| Reuptake | When excess neurotransmitters are reabsorbed by the sending neuron. Many drugs increased the availibility of selected neurotransmitters by blocking their reuptake. |
| Excitatory | A junction between two neurons which when timulated will increase the chance that the receiving neuron will fire. |
| Inhibitory | A junction between 2 neurons which when stimulated decreases the chance that the receiving neuron will fire. |
| Agonists | (excite) A drug molecule that is similar to the neurotransmitter that mimics its effects or blocks it's reuptake. Opium. |
| Antagonists | (Inhibit) A drug molecule that inhibits a neurotranmitter's release. |
| Phrenology | The theory that claimed that bumps on the skull could reveal our mental abilities and our character traits. Franz Gall. |
| Biological Psychology | A Branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior. (Behavior neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, biopsychologists.) |
| Neuron | A nerve cell. The basic building block of the nervous system. Neurons generate electricity from chemical events. |
| Sensory Neuron | Carry info from the body's tissues and organs to the brain and spinal cord. |
| Motor Neuron | Carry instructions from the brain and spinal cord to the body's organs and tissues. |
| Interneuron | Found only in the brain and spinal cord. Link sensory and motor neurons and communicates with other interneurons. |
| Dendrites | The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the body. |
| Axon | The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminl fibers, through which messages pass to the other neurons or to muscles or glands. |
| Axon terminal | Tiny button or knobs at the end of the axon's branches. |
| Synaptic Vesicles | Tiny sacs filled with chemical substances. |
| Myelin Sheath | A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasting the figers of many neurons. Enables vastly greater transmission speed of neutral impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next. |
| Selectively Permeable | The axon's surface is said to be selectively permeable because a resting axon's gates may block positive sodium ions. |
| Extra Cellular | Fluid on outside of a resting axon has excess of positively charged ions |
| Intra Cellular fluid | Fluid on inside of a resting axon has excess of negatively charged ions. |
| Anions | Protein molecules inside the axon that are negatively charged. |
| Ions | Electrically charged atoms. |
| Resting Potential | The positive-outside/negative- inside state called the resting potential. |
| Refractory period | When the neuron pumps the positively charged sodium atoms back outside. So that it can fire again. (100-1000x a second) |
| Action Potential | A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channes in the axon's membrane. |
| Nodes of Ranier | The gaps between the sections of meylin sheath. |
| Stimulus Threshold | The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse. It is an all-or-none response. |
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