Chapter 2 Outline Introduction Everything psychological is simultaneously biological Aristotle believed that the mind was in the heart,

t, while Plato believed it was in the brain Franz Gall believed that the bumps on the skull revealed an individuals character, traits and mental abilities. Also known as phrenology. Galls Phrenology was wrong about the bumps revealing someones character, but his idea that different parts of the brain controls different parts of our behavior was correct. Biological psychologist are those who study the links between psychological events and biological activity. They can also be known as neuropsychologists, physiological psychologists and behavior genetics. Neural Communication The information system of the body is made up of interconnected neurons The fact that our body is made of tiny cells, which make up the organs, which then make up the body systems such as the digestive system is known as Biopsychosocial systems. It is because that the nervous system and the brain of humans and animals are similar that scientists are able to experiment on animals to find how our neural system works. Neurons Each neuron has a cell body and branching fibers. The neuron is a nerve cell, which is the basic foundation of the nervous system. Dendrites are the bushy, branchy extensions of a neuron that receives messages and conducts impulses towards the cell body. The axon is the extension of a neuron. The messages must pass through the axon to pass to the other neurons. They can be several feet long. Motor neurons control the muscles The myelin sheath is a layer of fatty tissue. It is due to the myelin sheath that impulses could be transmitted so fast. (The myelin sheath would bundle the fibers of many neurons, allowing no gaps or stops involved) Multiple sclerosis is when the myelin sheath degenerates. It leads to the loss of muscle control Neural impulses travel at around 2 to 200 miles per hour. How an impulse travels: A neuron fires an impulse when it receives signals from sensory receptors, this can be stimulated by heat or light. Either way, it is stimulated chemically. Messages from neighboring neurons generate electricity from chemical events. The exchange of electrical charge that travels down the axon is also known as ions The action potential is the neural impulse, the brief electrical charge that travels down the axon. It is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axons membrane. The resting potential is the state when the fluid interior of the axon has an excess

of negative ions and the fluid outside of the axon has positive ions. The axons surface is selectively permeable, it may block certain ions. The ions get through the axon through several steps. 1. Once a neuron fires, the axon will be open to positively charged sodium ions 2. The axon is then depolarized. The next part of the axon will open, leading other parts of the axon to open as well. (chain reaction) 3. The Refractory period is also known as the resting pause when the neuron pumps the positively charged sodium ions back outside of the membrane 4. In the myelin neurons, the action potential will speed up by hopping from one myelin to the other. There are two different types of signals, including the inhibitory and excitatory. The excitatory can be compared to pushing the accelerator, while the inhibitory could be compared as pushing the brake. The threshold is the required level of stimulation to trigger a neural response The action potential transmits down the axon, which branches into junctions with 100s and 1000s of other neurons, then to the muscles and glands. Increasing the stimulus above the threshold will not increase the action potentials intensity. Also known as the all or none response. Strong stimulus could trigger more neurons to fire; it will not affect the action potentials strength or speed. How Neurons communicate Santiago Ramon y Cajal discovered gaps between individual nerve cells and said that the individual neurons must function as independent agents with in the nervous system. Sir. Charles Sherrington discovered that the transmission did have interruptions by noticing that impulses took a long time to complete its actions. The axon terminal of one neuron is separated from the receiving neuron by a gap , either called a synaptic gap or a cleft. Diane Ackerman noticed that dendrites and axons do not touch Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that extend across the synaptic gaps between the neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and binds to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, showing that it may influence whether a neuron will generate a neural impulse. Reputake is when the neurotransmitters are reabsorbed by the sending neuron. The neurotransmitter molecule across the synaptic gap binds to the receptor sites on the receiving neuron. The neurotransmitter unlocks tiny channels at the receiving site, then allows ions to enter the receiving neuron