CHAPTER 2: The Biology Of Mind

Neuron

a nerve cell, the basic building block of the nervous system.

Sensory Neurons

Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.

Motor Neurons

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicates internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

Dendrite

The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

Axon

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands

Myelin

sheath a layer of fatty tissue segmental encasing the fibers of many neurons ; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops 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 neural impulse

Synapse

the junction between the avon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron

Reuptake

a neurotransmitters resorption by the sending neuron