PSYC 1301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Axon Terminal, Action Potential, Reuptake
Document Summary
Biological psychology scientific study of the biological bases of behavior and mental processes. Neuroscience scientific study of the nervous system. Scientific disciplines that contribute to neuroscience: biological psychology, biology, physiology, genetics, neurology. Action potential brief electrical impulse by which info is transmitted along axon. Resting potential state in which a neuron is prepared to activate and communicate message, if it receives sufficient stimulation. All-or-none law a neuron is either sufficiently stimulated and will begin and complete an action potential, or is not sufficiently stimulated and an action potential will not occur. Neural transmitters can have different effects: transmitters open various types of ion channels by fitting into a receptor site of a specific shape on a specific channel. A good analogy is to a lock (receptor) and key (transmitter: excitatory message increases the likelihood that the postsynaptic neuron will activate, drugs can increase production of a transmitter. Inhibitory message decreases the likelihood that the postsynaptic neuron will activate.
