PSY240 Week Three DQ#2
On p. 84 of the text, in the Thinking Clearly section, the conduction action potentials and activation of neurotransmitters is related to a row of mousetraps on a wobbly shelf. Think of your own original analogy you can use to describe the conduction of action potentials and activation of neurotransmitters and post as your response.
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To come up with an original analogy to describe the conduction of action potentials and activation of neurotransmitters, you could think of it as a domino effect through a series of doors.
Imagine a room with many doors lined up in a row. Each door represents a neuron in the brain. At the end of the row, there is a large stack of dominoes representing neurotransmitters. Now, imagine that each door is connected to the next door through a system of strings, just like neurons are connected by their axons.
When an action potential occurs in one neuron, it's like someone pushing the first door in the row. This causes a chain reaction, causing the door to swing open. As soon as the door swings open, it pulls on the string that is connected to the next door in line.
As the next door opens, it releases a set of dominoes, representing neurotransmitters, which knock down another set of dominoes in the next room. This series of doors swinging open and knocking down dominoes continues down the line.
The knocking down of dominoes represents the activation of neurotransmitters, which then transmit the signal to the next neuron in the circuit. Just like a continuous chain reaction in the dominoes, action potentials and neurotransmitter activation keep the signal moving along the neural pathway.
So, to summarize, the conduction of action potentials and activation of neurotransmitters can be likened to a series of doors opening and releasing dominoes, propagating the signal from one neuron to another. This analogy helps illustrate how the transmission of nerve impulses occurs in the brain.