01:830:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System, Spinal Cord

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:101
• Professor: BRYNILDSEN

Document Summary

Neuron: specialized cell that transmits neural messages to other neurons, glands, and muscles. Dendrite: receives neural messages from other neurons. Away and axon both start with a. Specialized protein that are wrapped around the axon to help transmit message. Electrical signal within a neuron (action potential) Action potential: electrical impulse that travels from the cell body down to the end of the axon (neural firing) Threshold: level of electric charge needed to stimulate action potential. All or none response: once the electric charge of the neuron reaches a certain threshold, it fires as an action potential. Impulses are transmitted across synapse via neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters: chemical messengers that travel across synapse from sending neuron to receptors on receiving neuron. Inhibitory signals: decreases likelihood that neuron will fire. Excitatory signals: increase likelihood that neuron will fire. Acetylcholine (ach): affects neurons involved in muscle action, learning, and memory. Dopamine: affects neurons involved in voluntary movement, reward, learning, memory.