PHYSILOGICAL/BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL reviewer

Chapter 1

Biological Psychology
– the study of physiological, evolutionary, and
developmental mechanisms of behavior and experience.
- concerns brain functioning

Neurons - which convey messages to one another and to

muscles and glands, vary enormously in size,
shape, and functions.

Glia - generally smaller than neurons, have many

functions but do not convey information
over great distances.

Chapter 2: Nerve Cells and Nerve Impulses

PHYSILOGICAL/BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL reviewer
2.1: The Cells of The Nervous System
The nervous system consists of two kinds of cells:
neurons and glia.
Neurons - receive information and transmit it to other
cells. vary enormously in size, shape, and functions
- have long branching extensions.
- The larger neurons have these components:
dendrites, a soma (cell body), an axon, and
presynaptic terminals.
- The tiniest neurons lack axons, and some lack
well-defined dendrites.
- Has 4 major parts (♠)
Glia - serve many functions that are difficult to
summarize. Generally smaller than neurons, have many
functions but do not convey information
over great distances
The adult human brain contains approximately 100
billion neurons. (Estimated)
Two scientist that are widely known as the main
founders of neuroscience:
- Santiago Ramón y Cajal
- Charles Sherrington
- axons)
Membrane (or plasma membrane)
- a structure that separates the inside of the cell
from the outside environment.
- surface of a cell.
Nucleus
- the structure that contains the chromosomes.
Mitochondrion (pl.: Mitochondria)
- is the structure that performs metabolic
activities, providing the energy that the cell
requires for all other activities.
- require fuel and oxygen to function.
Ribosomes
- are the sites at which the cell synthesizes new
protein molecules.
- Some ribosomes float freely within the cell,
some are attached to the endoplasmic reticulum
Proteins
- provide building materials for the cell and
facilitate various chemical reactions.
Endoplasmic reticulum
- a network of thin tubes that transport newly
synthesized proteins to other locations.
Motor Neuron
- has its soma in the spinal cord.
- It receives excitation from other neurons through
its dendrites and conducts impulses along its
axon to a muscle.
Sensory Neuron
- is specialized at one end to be highly sensitive to
a particular type of stimulation, such as light,
sound, or touch.
- is a neuron conducting touch information from
the skin to the spinal cord.
(♠) Dendrites
- are branching fibers that get narrower near their
ends.
- dendrite comes from a Greek root word meaning
“tree.”
- surface is lined with specialized synaptic
receptors, at which the dendrite receives
information from other neurons.
- greater the surface area of a dendrite, the more
information it can receive.
Dendritic Spines
- the short outgrowths that increase the surface
area available for synapses
(♠) Cell body, or soma (greek “body”; pl.: somata)
- contains the nucleus, ribosomes, and
mitochondria.
- Most of the metabolic work of the neuron occurs
here.
- range in diameter from 0.005 mm to 0.1 mm in
mammals and up to a full millimeter in certain
invertebrates.
- covered with synapses on its surface in many
neurons.
(♠) Axon (greek word meaning “axis”)
- is a thin fiber of constant diameter, in most cases
longer than the dendrites.
- the neuron’s information sender, conveying an
impulse toward other neurons or an organ or
muscle.
Myelin Sheath
- insulating material covering axon. (Vertebrate
- Composed of fats and proteins.
Nodes Of Ranvier (Rahn-vee-ay)
- interruptions in between myelin sheath.
- Short sections of axon
- 1 micrometer wide
(♠) Presynaptic Terminal (end bulb)
- forms when the tip of the branches of an axon,
swells.
Afferent Axon
- brings information into a structure.
Efferent Axon
- carries information away from a structure.
Every Sensory Neuron is an afferent to the rest of
the nervous system, and every Motor Neuron is an
efferent from the nervous system.
Interneuron or Intrinsic Neuron
- If a cell’s dendrites and axon are entirely
contained within a single structure.
The function of a neuron relates to its shape.For
example, the widely branching dendrites of the Purkinje
cell of the cerebellum enable it to receive a huge number
of inputs—up to 200,000 in
some cases. By contrast, certain cells in the retina
have only short branches on their dendrites and therefore
pool input from only a few sources.
Glia (or neuroglia)
- the other major components of the nervous
system, do not transmit information over long
distances as neurons do, although they perform
many other functions.
- derived from a Greek word meaning “glue,”
reflects early investigators’ idea that glia was
PHYSILOGICAL/BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL reviewer
like glue that held the neurons together (Somjen,
1988).
- Although that concept is obsolete, the term
remains. Glia is smaller but more numerous than
neurons.
Types of Glia:
Astrocytes
- Star shaped
- wrap around the presynaptic terminals of a
group of functionally related axons.
- taking up ions released by axons and then
releasing them back to axons
- helps synchronize the activity of the axons,
enabling them to send messages in waves.
- also remove waste material created when
neurons die and control the amount of blood
flow to each brain area.
- dilate the blood vessels to bring more nutrients
into that area during periods of heightened
activity in some brain areas.
Glutamate
- a certain transmitter released by neurons to
communicate.
- nearby Glia cells absorbs excess.
Glutamine
- a chemical made by glia cells by converting
most of the glutamate.
Glutamate
Neurons Glia
Glutamine
Microglia
- very small cells, also remove waste material as
well as viruses, fungi, and other
microorganisms.
- In effect, they function like part of the immune
system
Oligodendrocytes (OL-i-go-DEN-druh- sites)
- in the brain and spinal cord.
Schwann cells
- in the periphery of the body
- are specialized types of glia that build the
myelin sheaths that surround and insulate certain
vertebrate axons.
Radial glia
- guides the migration of neurons and their axons
and dendrites during embryonic development.
When embryological development finishes, most
radial glia differentiate into neurons, and a smaller
number differentiate into astrocytes and
oligodendrocytes.
Blood–Brain Barrier
- mechanism that excludes most chemicals from
the vertebrate brain.
- protects the nervous system from viruses and
many dangerous chemicals.
- keeps out useful chemicals as well as harmful
ones. Useful chemicals includes: all fuels and
amino acids, the building blocks for proteins.
For the brain to function, it needs special
mechanisms to get these chemicals across the blood–
brain barrier. The brain has several such mechanisms.
Small Uncharged Molecules
- including oxygen and carbon dioxide, cross
freely. Water crosses through special protein
channels in the wall of the endothelial cells.
Molecules That Dissolve in The Fats Of The
Membrane
- also cross passively.
Examples include vitamins A and D and all the
drugs that affect the brain—from antidepressants
and other psychiatric drugs to illegal drugs such
as heroin.
Active Transport
- For a few other chemicals
- a protein-mediated process that expends energy
to pump chemicals from the blood into the brain.
Chemicals that are actively transported into the brain
include glucose (the brain’s main fuel), amino acids
(the building blocks of proteins), purines, choline, a few
vitamins, iron, and certain hormones.
The blood–brain barrier is essential to health. In
people with Alzheimer’s disease or similar conditions,
the endothelial cells lining the brain’s blood vessels
shrink, and harmful chemicals enter the. However, the
barrier also poses a difficulty in medicine because it
keeps out many medications. Brain cancers are difficult
to treat because nearly all the drugs used for
chemotherapy fail to cross the blood–brain barrier.
Glucose
- sugar
- adult neurons heavily rely
- practically the only nutrient that crosses the
blood–brain barrier after infancy, except for
ketones (a type of fat; seldom available in large
amounts)
Although neurons require glucose, glucose shortage
is rarely a problem. The liver makes glucose from many
kinds of carbohydrates and amino acids, as well as from
glycerol, a breakdown product from fats. The only likely
problem is an inability to use glucose. To use glucose,
the body needs vitamin B1, thiamine.
Prolonged thiamine deficiency, common in chronic
alcoholism, leads to death of neurons and a condition
called Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
- marked by severe memory impairments.
Chapter 2.2: Nerve Impulse
All parts of a neuron are covered by a membrane
of about 8 nanometers (nm) thick (just less than 0.00001
mm), composed of two layers (an inner layer and an
outer layer) of phospholipid molecules.
Phospholipid Molecules
- containing chains of fatty acids and a phosphate
group.
Electrical Gradient (Polarization)
- a difference in electrical charge between the
inside and outside of the cell.
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- neuron inside the membrane has a slightly distribution of ions across the membrane. Sodium is
negative electrical potential with respect to the more concentrated outside than inside, so just by the
outside, mainly because of negatively charged laws of probability, sodium is more likely to enter the
proteins inside the cell. cell than to leave it.
Resting Potential
- difference in voltage in a resting neuron.
- measured by inserting a very thin
microelectrode into the cell body.
The electrode must be as small as possible so that it
enters the cell without causing damage. The most
common electrode is a fine glass tube filled with a
concentrated salt solution and tapering to a tip diameter
of 0.0005 mm or less.
If charged ions could flow freely across the
membrane, the membrane would depolarize. However,
the membrane is selectively permeable. That is, some
chemicals pass through it more freely than others do.
Oxygen, carbon dioxide, urea, and water cross
freely through channels that are always open.
Large or electrically charged ions and molecules
do not cross the membrane at all.
Biologically important ions, such as sodium,
potassium, calcium, and chloride, cross through
membrane channels (or gates) that are sometimes open
and sometimes closed.
When the membrane is at rest (resting potential),
the sodium channels are closed, preventing almost all
sodium flow. Certain kinds of stimulation can open the
sodium channels. When the membrane is at rest,
potassium channels are nearly but not entirely closed, so
potassium flows slowly. Stimulation (depolarization)
opens them more widely also, as it does for sodium
channels.
Sodium–Potassium Pump
- a protein complex, repeatedly transports three
sodium ions out of the cell while drawing two
potassium ions into it.
- an active transport that requires energy.
- sodium ions are more than 10 times more
concentrated outside the membrane than inside,
and potassium ions are similarly more
concentrated inside than outside.
- effective only because of the selective
permeability of the membrane, which prevents
the sodium ions (when pumped out, they stay
out) that were pumped out of the neuron from
leaking right back in again.
However, some of the potassium ions pumped into
the neuron slowly leak out, carrying a positive charge
with them. That leakage increases the electrical
gradient across the membrane.
When the neuron is at rest, two forces act on
sodium, both tending to push it into the cell. First,
consider the electrical gradient. Sodium is positively
charged, and the inside of the cell is negatively charged.
Opposite electrical charges attract, so the electrical
gradient tends to pull sodium into the cell. Second,
consider the concentration gradient, the difference in
Chloride Ions
- negatively charged
- are mainly outside the cell.
Action Potentials
- Messages sent by axons. (produced)
- require the flow of sodium and potassium.
- transmits information without loss of intensity
over distance.
Hyperpolarization
- increased polarization.
Depolarization
- reduce its polarization toward zero.
Threshold Of Excitation
A neuron’s membrane contains several types of
cylindrical proteins, that can open or close. When one
of these proteins is open, it allows a particular type of
ion to cross the membrane.
Sodium Channel
- protein that allows sodium to cross.
Potassium Channel
- allows potassium to cross.
Voltage-Gated Channels
- regulate sodium and potassium
Local anesthetic drugs, such as Novocain and
Xylocaine, attach to the sodium channels of the
membrane, preventing sodium ions from entering, and
thereby stopping action potentials.
All-Or-None Law
- the amplitude and velocity of an action potential
are independent of the intensity of the stimulus
that initiated it, provided that the stimulus
reaches the threshold.
Refractory Period
- it resists the production of further action
potentials.
Absolute Refractory Period
- first part.
- the membrane cannot produce an action
potential, regardless of the stimulation.
Relative Refractory Period
- a stronger than usual stimulus is necessary to
initiate an action potential.
The refractory period has two mechanisms: The
sodium channels are closed, and potassium is flowing
out of the cell at a faster than usual rate.
Axon Hillock
- a swelling where the axon exits the soma
Propagation Of the Action Potential
- describes the transmission of an action potential
down an axon.
Myelinated Axons
- axons covered with a myelin sheath.
PHYSILOGICAL/BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL reviewer
- found only in vertebrates, are covered with
layers of fats and proteins.

Saltatory Conduction
- jumping of action potentials from node to node
- e Latin word saltare, meaning “to jump.”

If the axon later loses its myelin, it still lacks

sodium channels in the areas previously covered with
myelin, and most action potentials die out between one
node and the next.

Local Neurons (small neuron)

- do not have an axon
- do not follow the all-or-none law
- exchange information with only their closest
neighbors
- difficult to study because it is almost impossible
to insert an electrode into a tiny cell without
damaging it.
When a local neuron receives information from
other neurons, it has a graded potential.

Graded Potential
- a membrane potential that varies in magnitude in
proportion to the intensity of the stimulus.