Alteration of membrane permeability (polarization) allows a change of electrical charges (negative to positive) that runs along the entire cell membrane. When unstimulated, a neuron is like a small battery and has a measurable negative electrical charge (about 70 millivolts) called the resting potential.Īction potential is the potential produced when appropriate stimulation is high enough to reach the neural threshold and causes the neuron to fire, that is, alters the membrane permeability. Resting potential is the potential maintained by the inactive neuron. The neural threshold must be reached before a change from resting to action potential occurs (Figure 1). Neurons have two types of potentials, a resting potential and an action potential. The term potential refers to a difference in electrical charges. When a neuron is sufficiently stimulated to reach the neural threshold (a level of stimulation below which the cell does not fire), depolarization, or a change in cell potential, occurs. (The type of stimulation necessary to produce firing depends on the type of neuron.) The fluid inside a neuron is separated from that outside by a polarized cell membrane that contains electrically charged particles known as ions. Activation (firing) of the neuron takes place when the neuron is stimulated by pressure, heat, light, or chemical information from other cells. Neural transmission occurs when a neuron is activated, or fired (sends out an electrical impulse). The function of a neuron is to transmit information within the nervous system. Legal Aspects of Psychological Disorders.Development in Early & Middle Adulthood.Developmental Psychology: Age 13 to 65+.Psychology: Biological Bases of Behavior.
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