Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Neurons can be found in different shapes and sizes and can be classified based upon their morphology. The Italian scientist Camillo Golgi grouped neurons into type I and type II cells. Golgi type I neurons have long axons that can move signals over long distances, such as in Purkinje cells , whereas Golgi type II neurons generally have shorter ...
Motor neurons innervating the same twitch muscle fibers are thought to maintain synchronous activity which allows both neurons to remain in contact with the muscle fiber in adulthood. [38] In the cortex, early waves of activity have been observed in the cerebellum and cortical slices. [64]
Neurons communicate with other cells via synapses, which are specialized connections that commonly use minute amounts of chemical neurotransmitters to pass the electric signal from the presynaptic neuron to the target cell through the synaptic gap. Neurons are the main components of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoans.
The grandmother cell, sometimes called the "Jennifer Aniston neuron", is a hypothetical neuron that represents a complex but specific concept or object. [1] It activates when a person "sees, hears, or otherwise sensibly discriminates" [2] a specific entity, such as their grandmother.
Neurotransmission implies both a convergence and a divergence of information. First one neuron is influenced by many others, resulting in a convergence of input. When the neuron fires, the signal is sent to many other neurons, resulting in a divergence of output. Many other neurons are influenced by this neuron. [citation needed]
While individual neurons are simple, many of them together in a network can perform complex tasks. There are two main types of neural network. In neuroscience , a biological neural network is a physical structure found in brains and complex nervous systems – a population of nerve cells connected by synapses .
Neurons generate action potentials resulting from changes in the electric membrane potential. Neurons can generate multiple action potentials in sequence forming so-called spike trains. These spike trains are the basis for neural coding and information transfer in the brain.
The cells of the brain include neurons and supportive glial cells. There are more than 86 billion neurons in the brain, and a more or less equal number of other cells. Brain activity is made possible by the interconnections of neurons and their release of neurotransmitters in response to nerve impulses.