OP Summer Psychology - Lecture 2, Chapter 3

Sensory neurons

receive information from the external world, receive signals for light, sound, touch, taste, and smell (five senses)

→ neurons coming in

Tip to remember: in sensory, out motor

Motor neurons

carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement

→ neurons coming out

Tip to remember: in sensory, out motor

Interneurons

small neurons in between sensory and motor neurons

Axon

carries information to other neurons, muscles, glandes

Neurons

cells in the nervous system that communicate with each other to perform information processing tasks (in the brain)

Myelin

some coverings on the axon, important for speed transformations

Terminal buttons

end of the neuron

Dendrite

starting point where the neuron receives information from other neurons and relays it to the cell body

Synapse

in order for neuron A to get to neuron B, they have to go through the synapse (gap)

Action Potential

change in voltage (mv) over Time (ms)

Process of Neurons (in steps; ~5 steps)

1. START: dendrite; post synaptic cleft (when they already receive the information from transmission from the end of another neuron)

2. processes in the cell body (nucleus)

3. goes to myelin, goes to myelin sheath (myelin sheath is to protect the chemical signal); Node of Ranvier: gap between the myelin

4. goes through the synapse (graph included)

5. END: presynaptic cleft, reaches the terminal buttons (imagine the terminal button is connected to the top of another neuron (aka dendrite)

Axon Collateral

ending parts of the neuron

Steps of Action Potential (~6 steps)

1. process of receiving information from the past neuron and giving this info to the next neuron and this is being communicated within the neuron

2. communication from the cell body to the terminal region (terminal buttons) is action potential

3. sodium and potassium ions are the key ions in action potential

4. saltatory conduction: action potential jumps from each node of ranvier and completes the process faster because it doesn’t go through the entire axon

5. the process happens or not, once it passes the threshold, it happens; if it doesn’t then it doesn’t happen (like a toilet, if you flush it,  it all goes down)

6. actional potential needed for release of a neurotransmitter; push the whole process to the next neuron