AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Action potential: is a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of the neuron.

Detailed explanation-2: -Action Potentials. This “firing” of impulse messages is called the action potential. An action potential is a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of the neuron.

Detailed explanation-3: -The action potential is an explosion of electrical activity that is created by a depolarizing current. This means that some event (a stimulus) causes the resting potential to move toward 0 mV. When the depolarization reaches about-55 mV a neuron will fire an action potential. This is the threshold.

Detailed explanation-4: -Positive charges exist on the outside of the axon and negative charges on the inside. Now consider the consequences of delivering some stimulus to a point in the middle of the axon. If the depolarization is sufficiently large, voltage-dependent sodium channels will be opened, and an action potential will be initiated.

Detailed explanation-5: -Propagation. The propagation of the action potential from the axon hillock down the axon and to the presynaptic terminal results in release of chemical neurotransmitters that communicate with a postsynaptic neuron.