ALPHABETICAL BRAIN VOCABULARY Flash Card #11 - Details WHAT IS "POTENTIATION" AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? "POTENTIATION" is the abbreviation for the microscopic electrochemical process known technically as "long-term potentiation." That process strengthens the connections between and among specific NEURONS when they are activated by your thoughts or feelings or actions. This fundamental electrochemical process involves the exchange of calcium and potassium ions through SYNAPSES. It makes possible your memory resources, which include your short-term "working memory," your episodic memory, your semantic memory, your muscle memory, your procedural memory, and the growth or decay of nerve cell molecules in modules that are located in your HIPPOCAMPUS. Your hippocampal modules make possible your "long-term memory," which makes possible (functionally causes) your self-identity or "sense of self" During this process, your MYELIN SHEATHS, which consist of GLIAL CELLS ("white matter") and which surround the AXONS of your NEURONS, protect the electrical signals (impulses) flowing between and among all of your NEURONS through all of your SYNAPSES. The electrical signals (impulses), which flow down from your brain to your body through NEURAL PATHWAYS inside NERVE TRACKS, are known technically as "signal output." And the electrical signals (impulses), which flow up from your body to your brain, are known as "signal input." This is essential for you to know because it describes a process that creates and sustains your extremely complex and intricate "global" (whole) three-dimensional nervous system. Your complete nervous system is now known technically as your "connectome" since it connects all of your brain's vital living parts and creates all of your body's functions! These two kinds of neuron signals, input and output, have separate NEURAL PATHWAYS for connecting to your brain's "sensory strip" with its SIGNAL INPUT and your brain's "motor strip" with its SIGNAL OUTPUT, both of which function as "electrochemical junctions" for your nerve signals (impulses) to pass through and be redirected to specific brain or body organs through your millions of NERVE TRACTS. These two kinds of NEURAL PATHWAYS consist of clusters of NEURONS ("neuclei modules") in your "sensory strip" and "motor strip" (INPUT and OUTPUT junctions). They connect your whole body to specific functional organs inside your brain that include among many others (but most importantly) your PFC or PreFrontal Cortex (thoughts) and your LIMBIC SYSTEM (feelings)! Return to #11: POTENTIATION or BRAIN FACTS MATRIX