ALPHABETICAL BRAIN VOCABULARY Flash Card #2 - Details WHAT ARE YOUR "NEURONS" AND WHY ARE THEY SO IMPORTANT? Your NEURONS are specialized brain cells that are able to create ELECTRICAL "impulses" or "signals" and send them all around your brain and also up and down your body. Your NEURONS are the very tiny 100 billion nerve cells of "gray matter" in both your brain and spinal cord, which are the basic building blocks of your brain. These microscopic brain structures, which make up about 20% of your brain cells, make possible your ability to communicate with different parts of your body and with other people. They SEND or RECEIVE electrical "impulse signals" to and from your muscles and senses and internal organs, but only in one direction! In addition, all your neuron cells are CONNECTED to each other by your SYNAPSES, which relay electrical signals through an electrochemical process known as "potentiation" or "Long-Term Potentiation." This phenominal "ionic exchange" process makes possible your ability to learn anything! Synaptic plasticity is the irreducible essence of biological and psycho-social change, which gives you the freedom to change your mind about anything and change your body's skill-sets (with the help of all the other parts of your brain) so that you can make decisions or create new ideas or learn new habits. In short, for the first time in human history, scientific knowledge about the way NEURONS and SYNAPSES work together explains exactly what makes your awareness of yourself as a conscious person possible! Go to: FACT CHECKER Return to #2: NEURONS or BRAIN FACTS DEMO LIST