Circuits

Question 1

How is information encoded in pattern of action potential dishcarge?

Answer 1

• Motoneuron recruitment

- Rate coding

Question 2

What is motoneuron recruitment?

Answer 2

Achieved by recruiting (activating) more motoneurons as you go along, until you reach the desired force.

Question 3

What is rate coding?

Answer 3

Making motoneurons discharge action potentials faster as you go along. Achieved through combination of recruitment and rate coding.

Question 4

What is a neuronal pool?

Answer 4

Neurons that are organised into functional groups that produce or control a specific body function.

Question 5

What is a circuit?

Answer 5

How neurons within and between neuronal pools communicate.

Question 6

What are the types of circuits present?

Answer 6

• Divergence
• Convergence
• Serial Processing
• Parallel Processing
• Reverberation

Question 7

What is a reflex?

Answer 7

Brief, rapid, involuntary response triggered by a stimulus.

Question 8

What is neuron excitation?

Answer 8

Neuron depolarizes next cell. Increases activity in next cell.

Question 9

What is neuron inhibition?

Answer 9

Neuron hyperpolarizes next cell. Decrease activity in next cell.

Question 10

What is the process of the withdrawal reflex?

Answer 10

1) Arrival of stimulus and activation of receptor
2) Activation of sensory neuron
3) Information processing in the CNS
4) Activation of motor neurone
5) Response by a peripheral effector

Question 11

What is the process of the stretch reflex?

Answer 11

1) Muscle spindle senses stretch.
2) Sensory neuron conducts action potential
3) Sensory neurons synapse with alpha motoneuron and interneuron
4) Motor neuron to quadriceps is stimulated. Motor neuron to hamstring is inhibited.
5) Quadriceps contract, hamstrings relax.