Biological Foundations

of Behavior
Maja E. Francisco, MA cand.
College of Business
Administration
Aquinas University of Legazpi
 The Nervous System
 Characteristics
 Complexity
 Integration
 Adaptability
Electrochemical Transmission
The Nervous System
Divisions of the Nervous System
 Central Nervous System
 Part of the NS where the
brain and spinal cord are
located

BRAIN
• Control center of all
neural activities
SPINAL CORD
• Bridge between the
Peripheral Nervous
System and the brain
• Governs reflex responses
• Protected by the spine
 Peripheral Nervous System
 System of nerve cells that serves as a
bridge between the CNS to the different
parts of the body

SOMATIC Division
• Relay system where the brain sends
information to the different parts of the
body

AUTONOMIC Division
• Regulates involuntary movements of the
body
 How does Annie eat
her cookie?

Why can Anni close

her eyelids while
eating?

Why can she taste

her cookie?

Why can she open her

mouth?
 Somatic Division
• Regulates voluntary information, where
the brain sends information to the different
parts of the body

Sensory/Afferent Nerves
• Carries information from the
muscles, skin and joints to
the brain

Motor/Efferent Nerves
• Carries information from the
brain to the muscles, skin
and joints
Why do scream
when you’re in
roller coaster?

Why does your

heart seem to
“jump” when
you’re afraid?

Why does it feel

good to fall in
love?
 Autonomic Division
• Regulates most involuntary movements of the
body
Sympathetic Division
• Prepares the body for
startling, emergency
situations
• Arouses the body
• “Fight-or-Flight response”

Parasympathetic Division
• Exerts control over
situations when the body
can conserve and store
energy
 The NEURON
The basic unit of the nervous
system
 Neuron

 Specialized
cell
which receives,
conducts and
transmits
electrochemical
signals
 PARTS OF A NEURON
Cell body
• Metabolic center of
the neuron
Dendrites
• Receiving part of
the neuron, by
collecting
information and
orienting it towards
the cell body
Axon
• Carries information
away from the cell
body
 PARTS OF A NEURON
Myelin Sheath
• The fatty
insulation
around many
axons

Node of
Ranvier
• Gaps formed
between
myelin sheaths

Saltatory
 PARTS OF A NEURON
Synaptic terminals
• Button-like endings
of the axon branches
which release
chemicals into
synapases

Synapse
• Gaps in between
adjacent neurons
 Types of Neurons
Sensory Neurons
• Transmit incoming
impulses from the
sense organ, muscles
joints to the brain
Motor Neurons
• Transmit outgoing
impulses from the
brain to the muscles
and organs
Interneurons
• Integrates neural
activity between
sensory and motor
neurons
The Nerve Impulse
Electrical transmission WITHIN a
Neuron
 The Nerve Impulse
Neurons send messages electrochemically. This
means that chemicals cause an electrical signal.

Chemicals in the body are "electrically-charged" --

when they have an electrical charge, they are
called ions. The important ions in the nervous
system are sodium and potassium.

It is also important to remember that nerve cells

are surrounded by a membrane that allows some
ions to pass through and blocks the passage of
other ions. This type of membrane is called semi-
permeable
 Action Potential
 A massive momentary change in the neuron’s
electrical charge, causing the neuron to fire
 Goes by the “all-or-none principle”
 Once the electrical impulse reaches a certain
level of intensity, it fires and moves all the
way down the axon, remaining the sam
strength throughout its travel
 The Role of Voltage in an Action
Potential

During the resting

potential phase, the
outside of the axon is
positively charged
relative to the inside
of the axon

When an action
potential begins, the
channels that allow
sodium ions, Na+,
to cross open up.
 The Role of Voltage in an Action
Potential
The flow of positively charged ions into the axon leads the
axon to become positively charged relative to the outside.

The inside grows increasingly more positive and the

relative concentration of sodium inside the axon relative
to outside the axon grows greater.

This initial phase of the action potential is

called the depolarization phase
The Role of Voltage in an Action Potential

Depolarization
• A decrease in the neuron’s electrical
charge

Repolarization
• An increase in the neuron’s electrical
charge
 The Role of Voltage in an Action
Potential

When the inside of the axon becomes sufficiently

positive, about 30 mV is given as an average value, the
sodium channels close.

This closing of the sodium channels will greatly limit the

ability of sodium ions to enter the axon.

In addition to the sodium channels closing, the

potassium (K+) channels open. Now potassium is free
to cross the axon. 
 The Role of Voltage in an Action
Potential
When the sodium
channels open during
the depolarization, the
Na+ rushes in because
both of the greater
concentration of Na+ on
the outside and the more
positive voltage on the
outside of the axon.

When the Na+ channels

close and the K+
channels open, the K+
now leaves the axon due
both to the greater
concentration of K+ on
the inside and the
 The Role of Voltage in an Action
Potential

Thus, in many ways the action

potential is not the movement of
voltage or ions but the flow of these
ion channels opening and closing
moving down the axon.
Synaptic Transmission
Chemical transmission BETWEEN
Neurons
 Synaptic Transmission

Neurotransmitter
• Chemical substances that carry
information across the synaptic gap to
the next neuron
 Synaptic Transmission
At the synaptic terminal
(the presynaptic ending), an
electrical impulse will
trigger the migration of
vesicles containing
neurotransmitters toward
the presynaptic membrane.

The vesicle membrane will

fuse with the presynaptic
membrane releasing the
neurotransmitters into the
synaptic cleft.

Neurons can contain and

release more than one kind
of neurotransmitter.
 Synaptic
The neurotransmitter
Transmission
molecules then diffuse
across the synaptic cleft
where they can bind with
receptor sites on the
postsynaptic ending to
influence the electrical
response in the postsynaptic
neuron.

Lock-and-key principle
• binding process between
neurotransmitter and
receptors
 Synaptic Transmission

When a neurotransmitter binds to a receptor on the

postsynaptic side of the synapse, it changes the
postsynaptic cell's excitability: it makes the postsynaptic
cell either more or less likely to fire an action potential.

If the number of excitatory postsynaptic events is large

enough, they will add to cause an action potential in the
postsynaptic cell and a continuation of the "message."
RECAP!!!
Neurotransmitters
The Chemical Language of the
Brain
 Drugs & Neurotransmitters

Cocaine &
Dopamine
 Drugs & Neurotransmitters

Prozac &
Serotonin
Go Forth and Use your Nerve Cells!!!

Thank You…