1. Biological Psychology
Key Point for this Unit: Everything psychological is simultaneously biological!!

2. NEURON
Dendrites
Dendrites – The bushy, branching extensions that receive messages from other cells and conduct impulses toward the cell body

3. Cell Body – the cell’s life-support center
NEURON
Dendrites
Cell Body
Cell Body – the cell’s life-support center

4. NEURON
Dendrites
Cell Body
Axon
Axon – the extension of a neuron through which messages are sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands

5. NEURON
Dendrites
Cell Body
Axon
Myelin Sheath
Myelin Sheath – a layer of fatty cells covering the axon, helps speed neural impulses

6. Terminal branches of axon – form junctions with other cells
NEURON
Dendrites
Terminal branches of axon
Cell Body
Axon
Myelin Sheath
Terminal branches of axon – form junctions with other cells

7. Neural Communication Synapse [SIN-aps] Neurotransmitters
junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron
tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or cleft
Neurotransmitters
chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons
when released by the sending neuron, neuro-transmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether it will generate a neural impulse

8. Biological Psychology
It is all about the body!!!!
Concerned with the links between biology and behavior (also called Neuroscience)

9. The Nervous System
It starts with a NEURON: an individual nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

10. How does a Neuron fire? Resting Potential: slightly negative charge.
Reach the threshold when enough neurotransmitters reach dendrites.
Threshold: level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse; excitatory signals minus inhibitory signals must equal a minimum intensity
Go into Action Potential; a neural impulse (brief electrical charge) that travels down an axon.
All-or-none response.

11. Types of Neurons Sensory Neurons – sends receptors to CNS
Interneurons – internal communication neurons
Motor Neurons – CNS to muscle and glands