Biological Psychology: The Electric Chemistry of Thought
From ion channels to brain scans, how cells, chemicals and circuits produce sensing, moving, sleeping and changing.
Biological Psychology · 50 questions
Try 3 questions
1. Action potentials are all-or-none, always the same size. So how does a neuron signal that a stimulus is stronger?
- By firing slower spikes
- By firing bigger spikes
- By firing more often
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Answer: By firing more often
Intensity is coded mainly by firing rate (and by how many neurons fire), not by the size of each spike.
2. Why does a myelin sheath make nerve signals travel faster?
- The signal jumps between gaps in the sheath
- It adds extra electrical charge to the signal
- It makes the axon physically much shorter
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Answer: The signal jumps between gaps in the sheath
In saltatory conduction the impulse is regenerated only at the nodes of Ranvier, skipping the insulated stretches between them.
3. At rest, how does the electrical charge inside a neuron compare with the outside?
- It is positive relative to the outside
- It is exactly equal to the outside
- It is negative relative to the outside
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Answer: It is negative relative to the outside
The resting potential is about minus 70 millivolts, maintained by ion pumps and by potassium leaking out of the cell.
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