PSYC 317 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Alive Ii, Sensory Neuron, Chemical Substance

• School: George Mason University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 317
• Professor: Kelso

Document Summary

Lecture 2: cognitive neuroscience part 1: the building blocks of the nervous system: neurons. Neurons are the basic working unit of the brain. Neurons are cells specialized to store, receive, and transmit information. Neu(cid:396)o(cid:374)s (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:374)e(cid:272)ts(cid:863) i(cid:374) g(cid:396)oups to fo(cid:396)(cid:373) (cid:374)eu(cid:396)al (cid:272)i(cid:396)(cid:272)uits: neurons always have synapses between one another to communicate, so they are not physically connected, neuron parts. The cell body contains mechanisms to keep the cell alive. Dendrites branch out from the cell body to receive signals from other neurons, and the axon or nerve fiber transits signals to other neurons: axon = away, dendrite = receive. Transduction: process by which receptors transform energy from environment into electrical energy (action potentials) Action potentials travel down the axon of one neuron to the dendrites of another neuron: basic principles of action potentials. Action potentials are propagated: once a signal is generated at one end of the axon, it travels to the other end without decreasing in size.