The Biology of Mind Flashcards
Neuron
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
Biological psychology
A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior.
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 extension 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 segmentally 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 axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.
Neurotransmitter
Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.
Reputake
A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.
Endorphins
“Morphine within”-natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.
Nervous system
The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
