13.2 Storing Information in the Nervous System

Question 1

Hebbian synapse

Answer 1

A synapse that increases in effectiveness because of simultaneous activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons

Question 2

Sensitization

Answer 2

An increase in response to mild stimuli as a result of exposure to more intense stimuli

Question 3

Habituation

Answer 3

A decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly and accompanied by no change in other stimuli

Question 4

Specificity

Answer 4

Property that highly active synapses become strengthened and less active synapses do not

Question 5

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 5

Phenomenom that when one or more axons connected to a dendrite bombard it with a rapid series of stimuli, some of the synapses become more responsive to new input of the same type for minutes, days, or weeks

Question 10

Long-term depression (LTD)

Answer 10

A prolonged decrease in response at a synapse where the axons have been less active than certain other axons afferent to that neuron

Question 11

NMDA reseptor

Answer 11

A glutamate receptor that can respond to the drug NMDA

Question 12

Cooperativity

Answer 12

Tendency for nearly simultaneous stimulation by two or more axons to produce long-term potentiation much more effectively than stimulation by just one

Question 13

Retrograde transmitter

Answer 13

A transmitter released by a postsynaptic cell that travels back to the presynaptic cell to modify it

Question 15

Associativity

Answer 15

Property that a weak input paired with a stronger input enhances its later response

Question 18

AMPA reseptor

Answer 18

A glutamate receptor that can respond to AMPA

Question 19

BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor)

Answer 19

A neurotrophin similar to nerve growth factor