AP PSYCHOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL BASES OF BEHAVIOR

NEUROTRANSMISSION

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
An action potential refers to
A
a neural impulse
B
a level of stimulation needed to trigger a neuron
C
a period of brief resting pauce after a neuron has fired
D
the junction between the axon and the dendrite
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -An action potential, also called a nerve impulse, is an electrical charge that travels along the membrane of a neuron. It can be generated when a neuron’s membrane potential is changed by chemical signals from a nearby cell.

Detailed explanation-2: -A nerve impulse is a sudden reversal of the electrical charge across the membrane of a resting neuron. The reversal of charge is called an action potential. It begins when the neuron receives a chemical signal from another cell.

Detailed explanation-3: -An action potential is defined as a sudden, fast, transitory, and propagating change of the resting membrane potential. Only neurons and muscle cells are capable of generating an action potential; that property is called the excitability.

Detailed explanation-4: -nerve impulse. noun. variants also nervous impulse. : an electrical signal that travels along a nerve fiber in response to a stimulus and serves to transmit a record of sensation from a receptor or an instruction to act to an effector : the propagation of an action potential along the length of a neuron.

Detailed explanation-5: -An action potential occurs when a neuron sends information down an axon, away from the cell body. Neuroscientists use other words, such as a “spike” or an “impulse” for the action potential. The action potential is an explosion of electrical activity that is created by a depolarizing current.

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