2. Neuron
The neuron is the basic building block
of the brain and central nervous
system.
Neurons are specialized cells that
transmit chemical and electrical
signals. The brain is made up entirely of
neurons and glial cells, which are non-
neuronal cells that provide structure and
support for the neurons.
3. Structures of a Neuron
Nerve cells or neurons, are the information
carries of the nervous system. Neurons come
in many sizes and shapes, but they have
certain features in common.
Cell body that contains the machinery to keep
alive, and each has two types of fiber: dendrites
and an axon.
Dendrites are branch-like structures extending
away from the cell body, and their job is to receive
messages from other neurons and allow those
messages to travel to the cell body. Although some
neurons do not have any dendrites, other types of
neurons have multiple dendrites.
4. Structures of a Neuron
Axon at its most basic, is a tube-like structure that
carries an electrical impulse from the cell body (or
from another cell’s dendrites) to the structures at
opposite end of the neuron—axon terminals,
which can then pass the impulse to another
neuron.
7. Synapses
Synapse, also called neuronal junction, the site of
transmission of electric nerve impulses between
two nerve cells (neurons) or between a neuron and
a gland or muscle cell (effector).
A synaptic connection between a neuron and a muscle
cell is called a neuromuscular junction.
At a chemical synapse each ending, or terminal, of
a nerve fiber (presynaptic fiber) swells to form a
knoblike structure that is separated from the fiber
of an adjacent neuron, called a postsynaptic fiber,
by a microscopic space called the synaptic cleft.
8. Reference
Kalat. (2014). Biological Psychology. London: Cengage
Learning.
Tinbergen, N. (1951). The study of instinct. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
