ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY DETAILS about SYNAPSES Brain Flash Card #8 WHAT ARE YOUR SYNAPSES AND WHY ARE THEY SO IMPORTANT? What is the purpose and function of your SYNAPSES? The function of your synapses is to make possible the sending of biochemical signals or ionic impulses all around your brain and also up and down your body. Synapses are the trillions of electro-chemical junctions or switches that allow the 100 billion neurons in your brain and nervous system to communicate messages or send signals to and from your senses and to and from your many bodily organs. Your brain's biochemical signaling process is caused by the way your neurons and your synapses are connected at the microscopic quantum level of human existence by a very complicated electro-chemical process. During the signaling process, sodium and potassium molecules exchange charges at synaptic clefts or gaps (space) in the membranes of the thousands of synapses which attach to thousands of neurons or the attachment centers of bodily organs through many thousands of vesicles. NOTE: See consciousness #1, neurons #2; nucleus #5, potentiation #7; connectome #9, plasticity #10, and cerebral cortex #11. INSTANTLY GO TO: FACT CHECKER for SYNAPSES OR RETURN TO: SYNAPSES: BRAIN FLASH CARD #8 OR RETURN TO: LIST OF 15 FREE BRAIN FLASH CARDS