The Brain:

Source of Mind and

Self

Chapter 2
(hyperlink)

Welcome to the Wonderful World of

Neuropsychology, Biopsychology,
Neuroscience.

Biological Psychology
branch of psychology concerned with
the links between biology and
behavior
some biological psychologists call
themselves behavioral
neuroscientists, cognitive
neuroscientists, neuropsychologists,
behavior geneticists, physiological
psychologists, or biopsychologists

The Neuron

The information processing and informationtransmitting element of the nervous system.

Types of Neurons
Sensory

Neurons
(afferent neurons)
take in info from the
outside world and
send it to the brain
and spinal cord
Motor Neurons
(efferent neurons)
bring messages to
the muscles from the
brain and spinal cord

The Nervous System

Central Nervous System (CNS)

the brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
the sensory and motor neurons
that connect the central nervous
system (CNS) to the rest of the
body
further subdivided into the
autonomic and the somatic
systems

The Nervous System

Nervous
system

Central
(brain and
spinal cord)

Peripheral

Autonomic (controls
self-regulated action of
internal organs and glands)

Skeletal (controls
voluntary movements of
skeletal muscles)

Sympathetic
(arousing)

Parasympathetic
(calming)

Is it electrical or chemical?
Until

1921 it was unclear how

the nervous system
communicated
The dream of Otto Loewi and
frog hearts

It

had been known for 70 years that

stimulation of the vagus nerve slowed the
heart. In a simple but visionary experimental
twist, Loewi placed a beating frog's heart,
with its vagus nerve still attached, in a saline
bath. The saline in the bath was allowed to
flow into a second bath containing a second
beating heart, this time with the vagus nerve
removed. Stimulating the vagus nerve
slowed the first heart, as expected; after the
latent period, the second heart also slowed.

Loewi

reasoned that a soluble

chemical, which he called
vagusstoff, had transmitted the
nerve stimulus to the second
heart, indicating that the process
of neurotransmission is inherently
chemical. Chemical analysis of
vagusstoff revealed it to be
acetylcholine.

Action Potential: Electrical &

Chemical Communication

A brief electro/chemical signal that travels

down the axon to the terminal buttons.

Cell body end

of axon
Direction of neural impulse: toward axon terminals

https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=7EyhsOewnH4

The Synapse
A junction
between
the
terminal
buttons of
the
sending
cell and a
portion of
the
membrane
of the
receiving
cell

The Flow of Transmission

A Closer Look at a Neuron

Neural impulse - hyperlink

Details of an action potential - hyperlink

A Closer Look at a Terminal

Button
Neurotransmitter

chemical
messengers
that cross the
synaptic gaps
between
neurons
synapse hyperlink

Neurotransmitters Fit
like a Key

Agonist

Antagonist

A Closer Look at Reuptake

the

process by
which the sending
neurons collect the
excess
neurotransmitter

hyperlink