lesson 3 the human brain Flashcards
what are neurons
cells in the nervous system that communicate with each other to perform information processing tasks
ramon y cajal
used golgi staining to come up with neuron doctrine
neuron doctrine
neurons are discrete cellular units
parts of a neuron
cell body (soma), dendrite, axon
what does soma have
Organelles like mitochondria and ribosomes, nucleus with dna/genes
what do dendrites do
take in information (post synaptic neuron) and relay to soma
what does axon do
carries information to other neurons muscles or glands (can be very long or short)
what are axons covered with
myelin sheath (why white matter is white)
what makes myelin
supporting glia cells (astrocytes, myelin making, or microglia)
why is myelin important
increases communication between neurons (without it, can cause multiple problems)
synapse
junction between axon of one neuron and dendrites/soma of another neuron
types of neurons
sensory, motor, interneurons
what do motor neurons do
carry signals from spinal cord to muscles to produce movement
what do sensory neurons do
receive information from external world and convey to the brain via spina cord (have specialized ending on dendrites to receive signals for senses)
what do interneurons do
connect all types of neurons
types of specialized neurons
purkinje (interneuron in cerebellum), pyramidal (cerebral cortex), bipolar (sensory neuron found in retina)
what is conduction
movement of an electric signal within neurons
what is transmission
movement of a signal from one neuron to another as a result of chemical signal across the synapse
resting potential
difference in electric charge between outside and inside of neuronal cell membrane
consciousness
a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind
phenomenology
how things seem to the conscious person (in their understanding of mind and behaviour)
problem of other minds
difficulty of perceiving consciousness of others
what do people judge minds according to
capacity for experience (pleasure, pain, hunger) and agency (self control, planning, memory)
why is consciousness a problem for psych science?
the scientific method requires that any observation made by one scientist should be available for observation by any other scientist but other minds arent observable