PSYC 205 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Greylag Goose, Chemical Synapse, White Feathers
6 Jan 2018
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Sometimes called sensory exploitation (the idea that sometimes, sensory signals which were important for one process have been co-opted by another) Language in humans is another example (think brain plasticity: compensatory plasticity hypothesis. Cns through a process called neuronal communication: neurons have 4 primary features: soma, axon, presynaptic terminal, postsynaptic terminal, how neuronal communication works: Whe(cid:374) a (cid:374)eurotra(cid:374)s(cid:373)itter is released from the presynaptic terminal, it crosses the synapse to act on postsynaptic receptors located on some of the dendrites of other neurons. If probability is increases, the connection between pre and postsynaptic neuron is excitatory, if the probability is decreased, its inhibitory: a single neuron receives inputs from dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of other neurons. The combined influence of all excitatory and inhibitory input determines whether an action potential will fire at any given moment. Sensory receptors don"t respond to neurotransmitter release, they respond to input from the environment.
