Action potentials are brief electrical impulses that travel along the axon of a neuron. They occur when a neuron is stimulated and reach a certain threshold, causing an all-or-nothing response.
Think of action potentials as the firing of a gun. When the trigger is pulled (stimulation), if enough pressure is applied to the trigger (reaching threshold), the gun fires with full force (action potential).
Neurotransmitters: Chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons.
Resting Potential: The state in which a neuron is not being stimulated and has a negative charge inside compared to outside.
Refractory Period: A short period after an action potential where another action potential cannot be generated.
What unique experiment could be proposed to explore how action potentials vary under different physiological conditions?
What could challenge the conventional understanding that action potentials are always all-or-none phenomena?
Why would we argue that depolarization plays a central role in action potentials?
How does Linguistics' concept of 'phonemes' parallel our understanding of action potentials in neural firing?
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