BIOC17H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Slow-Wave Sleep, Nitric Oxide Synthase, Long-Term Memory
14 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
The brain is an electrical organ; much of its communication is electrical. We can record the electrical activity from outside of the head. We can learn about brain activity of inside. Not every graded potential will get you action potentials; much of what you"re recording is graded potential. These are couple of images of brain waves in people who are awake. Beta waves: high frequency, low amplitude [awake and active (not physically active; but attentive)] Alpha waves: low frequency, high amplitude [awake but resting] The transition from eyes closed (the alpha waves) to eyes open (typical beta waves) doesn"t differ in that they are awakened in both cases, but the difference is the eyes being open or closed. The opening of the eye does not depend on lights. If viewing something was done in the dark, you will still see the transition from alpha to beta. Attentiveness even in an environment that is dark (lights are off).
