Neurons 101
This is the basic building block of the nervous system
What is the neuron?
This law says a neuron either fires or it doesn’t based on whether a certain level of stimulation is reached
What is the all-or-none law?
These are the two main parts of the nervous system
What are the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system?
This hormone is involved in paired bonding and social trust, and people who were administered it were more likely to trust strangers with their money or confidential information
What is oxytocin?
In this syndrome, people experience strange distortions such as feeling like their body is too big or like they are looking at the world through a telescope/wrong end of a telescope
What is Alice in Wonderland syndrome?
This part of the neuron receives incoming messages
What are dendrites?
This is the tiny gap between neurons
What is the synapse (or synaptic gap)?
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
What is the pituitary gland?
This sense helps us know the relative position of different body parts and the strength of the effort being deployed in movement (think of putting pointer fingers together over your head or pressing down pen to paper)
What is proprioception?
This is the fatty layer that speeds up transmission
What is myelin?
These are the chemical messengers that cross the synapse
What are neurotransmitters?
This part of the autonomic nervous system calms the body after stress (the "rest and digest" system")
What is the parasympathetic nervous system?
These glands located at the top of the kidneys release cortisol
What are the adrenal glands?
This sense involves the perception of our body in relation to gravity, movement and balance (for example, measuring acceleration, g-force, head position).
What is the vestibular system?
This is a disorder that results from the deterioration of myelin.
What is multiple sclerosis?
This is another name for a neuron "firing"
What is an action potential?
This part of the peripheral nervous system controls voluntary movement
What is the somatic nervous system?
This is a way that hormones and neurotransmitters are similar
What is: they both produce molecules that act on receptors elsewhere?
This describes a feeling of being detached from oneself, as if you are an outside observer of your thoughts, feelings, or body
What is depersonalization?
This is the approximate number of neurons in the human brain
What is 86 billion?
This word describes a neurotransmitter that causes a neuron to fire (another word for "excitatory")
What is an agonist?
These are the three main types of neurons
What are sensory, motor, and interneurons?
Describe how the endocrine system is like "snail mail"
The endocrine system controls hormones, and hormones are slower messengers than electrical messengers
This is a syndrome caused by issues with the vestibular system and marked by a persistent feeling that you are still moving even after you are no longer moving (like when you get off an elevator or boat)
What is Mal de Debarquement syndrome?