PSYCH101 Chapter Notes -Neuroglia, Artificial Neural Network, Reticular Formation

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH101
• Professor: Jennifer Tomaszczyk

Document Summary

Franz gall proposed phrenology, that studying the bumps on a person"s head revealed their mental abilities and character traits. Phrenology succeeded in focusing attention on localization of function, that different brain areas serve different functions. Biological perspective: concerned with the links between biology and behavior. Neuron: nerve cell; basic building block of the nervous system. Neurons are composed of a cell body and its branching fibers. Dendrites: fibers that receive information and pass it to the cell body. Axons: fibers that pass the information through terminal branches to adjacent neurons. Myelin sheath: layer of fatty tissue that insulates axons and speeds their impulse. As myelin sheath is laid down until age 25, neural efficiency, judgment and self-control grows. Multiple sclerosis: degeneration of myelin sheath causes muscle communication to slow and eventual loss of muscle control. Neurons transmit messages when stimulated by signals from our senses, or when triggered by chemical signals from adjacent neurons.