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Why do I pull my hand away from a hot stove? How do I catch a ball thrown to me? How am I typing this paper at this very moment? Each of these activities requires communication from my brain to my muscles and organs. This is achieved through the neurons in the nervous system. Our sensory organs sense things that the brain needs to know. These signals are sent to the brain, where the signal is interpreted and the subsequent reaction message is sent to the appropriate system. The signals travel through neuron pathways by means of electrical and chemical signals or impulses that travel from one neuron to the other. These impulses regulate our behavior by instructing muscles how to react during certain events (Feldman, 2008, p.94).
Parts of a Neuron
To understand the neuron’s role in nervous system communication, it is important to understand the parts of the neuron. Each neuron consists of a cell body, dendrites, an axon, and terminal buttons. Electrical impulses travel from the dendrites through the cell body and the axon to the terminal buttons. There is also a space between the terminal buttons of each neuron and the dendrites of the adjacent neuron, which is called the synapse. The terminal buttons transfer information across the synapse using chemicals called neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are sent to the dendrites of the adjacent neuron to transmit the impulse to the next neuron in the communication chain.
How Neurons Function
The chain of communication is an alternating pattern of chemical and electrical signals. In its normal resting state, a neuron has a negative internal electrical charge. When the neuron is activated, its internal charge briefly becomes positive as an electrical impulse called an action potential. (Feldman, 2008, p.95). An action potential travels through the neuron as it travels to and from the brain. After the action potential has passed, the negative charge is restored to the neuron and it...