3. introduction Flashcards
What key question about neurons puzzled scientists at the start of the 20th century?
How neurons communicated with one another across synapses.
What were the two competing theories about how neurons communicate?
“Sparks”: Believed electrical signals crossed synapses.
“Soups”: Believed neurons released a chemical that flowed across synapses.
Who was Otto Loewi, and why is he significant in neuroscience?
Otto Loewi was a scientist who dreamed of an experiment that helped determine whether neurons communicate electrically or chemically, leading to a revolutionary discovery in brain studies.
How did Otto Loewi come up with his groundbreaking experiment?
He dreamed of the experiment, wrote notes that he couldn’t understand the next day, and performed the experiment after dreaming it again.
What discovery revolutionized the study of the brain?
The discovery that neurons communicate via chemicals, specifically neurotransmitters, at synapses.
What have humans historically experimented with to change brain and body functions?
Exogenous substances like frog poisons, mold antibiotics, and poppy-derived painkillers.
What is an electrochemical system in the brain?
A system where neurons electrically process information and chemically transmit it to other neurons through neurotransmitters.
What is a neurotransmitter?
An endogenous chemical released by a presynaptic neuron to communicate with a postsynaptic cell.
How do most drugs that affect behavior work?
By interfering with the chemical communication process at synapses.
What are the two main steps of synaptic transmission?
The presynaptic neuron releases a neurotransmitter.
The neurotransmitter communicates with the postsynaptic cell.
