Sunday, April 6, 2014

March 16, 2014 

The Nervous System- starts with an individual nerve cell called a neuron 

How does a neuron fire?
        -resting potentionial: slightly negative charge
        -reach the threshold when enough neurotransmitters reach dendrites
        -it's an electrochemical process 
        -chemical outside the neuron 

The All-or-nothing Response:
       - the idea that either the neuron fires or it doesn't, no part way firing
       *Like a gun 

4 Types of  Neurotransmitters:
   -Acetylcholine(ACH): deals with motor movement and memory, lack of ACH linked to.   Alzheimer's 
   -Dopamine: deals with motor movement and alertness, 
     *lack of dopamine linked to Parkinson's 
     *too much linked to schizophrenia 
   -Serotonin: involved in mood control 
     *lack of serotonin linked to depression
   -Endorphins:involved in pain control
     *most addictive drugs deals with endorphins

Drugs can be: Agonists-make neurons fire
                       Antagonists-stop neural firing

Three Types of Neurons:

-Sensory Neurons: (Afferent Neurons) take information from the senses to the brain
-Inter Neurons: take messages from sensory neurons to other pars of the brain or motor neurons
-Motor Neurons: (Efferent Neurons) the information from brain to the rest of the body

Central Nervous System: brain and spinal cord, made up of these two

Peripheral Nervous System: All nerves that are not encased in bone. Everything but spinal cord and  brain. *Divided into Autonomic and Somatic.

Somatic Nervous System: voluntary muscle movements
                                         *uses motor neurons

Autonomic Nervous System: controls that automatic functions of the body. Divided into two categories.... Sympathetic and Parasympathetic






1 comment:

  1. The neurotransmitters that fires in our body can help us out a lot. ACH is the reason why some of us pass these psychology tests! Dopamine helps you get through the day with a positive attitude.. at times. Serotonin helps you from falling into a pit of depression. But I have a question. Are we able to experience all of these neurotransmitters at the same time? By the way, you said there were 4 types of neurotransmitters when you only listed 3.

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