Читать книгу The Handy Psychology Answer Book - Lisa J. Cohen - Страница 296

When a neuron fires, it sends an electrical impulse down the length of the axon to the axon terminals. Excitatory neurotransmitters make it easier for the post-synaptic neurons to fire; inhibitory neurotransmitters make it more difficult. Each cell receives excitatory and inhibitory inputs from many synapses. When the sum total of these inputs reaches a certain threshold, the neuron fires, sending an electrical impulse down the axon. This firing is known as an action potential. When the action potential reaches the bottom of the axon, the axon terminals release their own neurotransmitters, stimulating (or inhibiting) action potentials in the next group of neurons. In this way, wide networks of neurons communicate with each other in very little time. Action potentials commonly travel at speeds of fifty meters per second and can occur every five hundredths of a millisecond.

Neurons communicate information to each other by sending chemicals called neurotransmitters across synaptic clefts.