🧠Neuroscience
Neurons, the brain, senses, memory and behaviour.
Neuroscience has 54 topics on LearnViz, graded from Beginner to Advanced. Pick a topic below to read its explanation, examples, FAQs and related links.
What is Neuroscience?
Neuroscience studies the nervous system, from individual neurons and synapses to the brain networks behind memory, movement and behaviour. It combines cell biology, physiology and psychology.
Beginner topics (14)
Nervous System
The brain, spinal cord and nerves that sense, process and respond to information.
🧠NeuroscienceNeuron
A nerve cell with dendrites, a cell body and an axon that transmits electrical signals.
🧠NeuroscienceCentral and Peripheral Nervous Systems
The CNS is brain and spinal cord; the PNS is all the nerves that connect them to the body.
🧠NeuroscienceBrain Regions
The cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem control thought, coordination and vital functions.
🧠NeuroscienceCerebral Cortex
The folded outer layer of the cerebrum responsible for perception, language and reasoning.
🧠NeuroscienceReflex Arc
A fast, automatic pathway from sensory neuron to motor neuron, often through the spinal cord.
🧠NeuroscienceSensory and Motor Neurons
Sensory neurons carry information to the CNS; motor neurons carry commands to muscles and glands.
🧠NeuroscienceSynapse
The junction where one neuron communicates with another or with a muscle cell.
🧠NeuroscienceNeurotransmitters
Chemical messengers like dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine released across synapses.
🧠NeuroscienceEye and Vision
Light is focused by the lens onto the retina, where rods and cones convert it into nerve signals.
🧠NeuroscienceEar and Hearing
Sound vibrations pass through the ossicles to the cochlea, where hair cells produce nerve impulses.
🧠NeuroscienceAutonomic Nervous System
Controls involuntary functions through sympathetic fight-or-flight and parasympathetic rest-and-digest branches.
🧠NeuroscienceLearning and Memory Basics
Experience changes brain connections, forming short-term and long-term memories.
🧠NeuroscienceGlial Cells
Support cells such as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes that nourish, insulate and protect neurons.
🧠NeuroscienceIntermediate topics (17)
Resting Membrane Potential
About -70 mV across a neuron membrane maintained by ion pumps and leak channels.
🧠NeuroscienceAction Potential
A rapid, all-or-none reversal of membrane potential that travels along an axon.
🧠NeuroscienceDepolarisation and Repolarisation
Sodium channels open and the cell becomes positive, then potassium channels open to restore the negative interior.
🧠NeuroscienceMyelin and Saltatory Conduction
Insulating myelin makes the impulse jump between nodes of Ranvier, greatly increasing speed.
🧠NeuroscienceSynaptic Transmission
An action potential triggers calcium entry, vesicle release of transmitter and receptor binding on the postsynaptic cell.
🧠NeuroscienceExcitatory and Inhibitory Synapses
Excitatory inputs depolarise the postsynaptic cell while inhibitory ones hyperpolarise it.
🧠NeuroscienceSummation
Postsynaptic potentials add together over space or time to reach the threshold for firing.
🧠NeuroscienceDopamine Pathways
Dopamine circuits mediate reward, motivation and movement; loss of its neurons causes Parkinson's disease.
🧠NeuroscienceSerotonin and Mood
Serotonin influences mood, sleep and appetite; SSRIs raise its levels at synapses.
🧠NeuroscienceSpinal Cord Functions
Relays signals between brain and body and manages simple reflexes independently.
🧠NeuroscienceHypothalamus and Pituitary
The hypothalamus links the nervous and endocrine systems by controlling pituitary hormone release.
🧠NeuroscienceLimbic System
Amygdala and hippocampus circuits that process emotion and form memories.
🧠NeuroscienceSensory Receptors
Mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, chemoreceptors and photoreceptors transduce stimuli into signals.
🧠NeuroscienceTaste and Smell
Chemoreceptors in taste buds and olfactory epithelium detect dissolved and airborne molecules.
🧠NeuroscienceNeural Development
Neurons are generated, migrate, extend axons and form synapses guided by chemical cues.
🧠NeuroscienceBrain Imaging
EEG, fMRI and PET reveal brain activity by electrical, blood flow or metabolic signals.
🧠NeuroscienceNeurodegenerative Diseases
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's involve progressive loss of neurons often with misfolded protein deposits.
🧠NeuroscienceAdvanced topics (23)
Long-Term Potentiation
A lasting strengthening of synapses after repeated stimulation, a cellular basis for learning.
🧠NeuroscienceNMDA Receptors
Glutamate-gated channels that act as coincidence detectors by needing both ligand and depolarisation.
🧠NeuroscienceSynaptic Plasticity
The ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken in response to activity, via receptor trafficking and structural change.
🧠NeuroscienceHippocampus and Memory Consolidation
The hippocampus encodes new episodic memories and gradually transfers them to the cortex during sleep.
🧠NeuroscienceVoltage-Gated Ion Channels
Channel proteins with voltage sensors that open or close to shape action potentials.
🧠NeuroscienceHodgkin-Huxley Model
A set of equations describing how sodium and potassium conductances produce the action potential.
🧠NeuroscienceNeural Circuits and Oscillations
Rhythmic firing patterns such as alpha and gamma waves coordinate communication across brain regions.
🧠NeuroscienceCerebellum and Motor Learning
The cerebellum fine-tunes movement and learns skills through error-based correction.
🧠NeuroscienceBasal Ganglia
Deep nuclei that select and initiate actions, disrupted in Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
🧠NeuroscienceVisual Cortex Processing
Hierarchical neurons detect edges, motion and objects, as shown by Hubel and Wiesel.
🧠NeuroscienceNeurogenesis
Birth of new neurons in adult brain regions such as the hippocampal dentate gyrus.
🧠NeuroscienceNeuropharmacology
Drugs act on receptors, transporters or enzymes to alter synaptic transmission.
🧠NeurosciencePain Pathways
Nociceptors send signals through the spinal cord, modulated by the gate control and endogenous opioids.
🧠NeuroscienceSleep and Circadian Rhythm
The suprachiasmatic nucleus synchronises body clocks to light through melatonin and clock genes.
🧠NeuroscienceOptogenetics
Light-sensitive channels expressed in chosen neurons let researchers switch them on or off with light.
🧠NeuroscienceConnectomics
Mapping the complete wiring diagram of neural connections, as achieved for the C. elegans nervous system.
🧠NeuroscienceNeuroinflammation
Activated microglia and astrocytes release cytokines that contribute to neurological disease.
🧠NeuroscienceBlood-Brain Barrier
Tightly joined endothelial cells restrict which substances enter the brain from the blood.
🧠NeuroscienceComputational Neuroscience
Uses mathematical and computer models to explain how neurons and networks process information.
🧠NeuroscienceConsciousness Research
Studies the neural correlates of awareness, using theories like global workspace and integrated information.
🧠NeuroscienceBrain-Machine Interfaces
Devices that decode neural signals to control computers or prosthetics, restoring function after injury.
🧠NeuroscienceNeurodevelopmental Disorders
Conditions such as autism and ADHD arise from altered brain development, influenced by many genes and environment.
🧠NeuroscienceLanguage Areas of the Brain
Broca's area drives speech production and Wernicke's area supports comprehension, in a distributed network.
🧠NeuroscienceUse cases
- Medicine: Stroke, epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease are diagnosed and treated using knowledge of neural circuits.
- Neurotechnology: Brain–computer interfaces and deep-brain stimulation rely on an understanding of neural signalling.
- Pharmacology: Many psychoactive drugs act at synapses, so knowing neurotransmitters explains their effects.
- Learning: Practice strengthens synaptic connections, which is why spaced repetition works for memory.
Frequently asked questions
How many topics are covered in Neuroscience?
Neuroscience has 54 topics on LearnViz: 14 Beginner, 17 Intermediate and 23 Advanced. Each one has its own page with an explanation, use cases, FAQs and related topics.
Where should a beginner start in Neuroscience?
Start with the Beginner topics, such as Nervous System, Neuron, Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems. Once those terms feel familiar, move on to the Intermediate topics.
What are the most advanced topics in Neuroscience?
The Advanced level includes Long-Term Potentiation, NMDA Receptors, Synaptic Plasticity, Hippocampus and Memory Consolidation, Voltage-Gated Ion Channels. Read the Beginner and Intermediate topics first, because the Advanced ones build on them.
Can I test my knowledge of Neuroscience?
Yes. The Neuroscience quiz asks questions generated from the topic explanations, and the timed tests on LearnViz cover the same material.
Do neurons regenerate?
In most of the adult brain, new neurons are added only in a few regions, such as the hippocampus. Damaged neurons in the brain and spinal cord usually do not regrow.
How fast do nerve impulses travel?
Myelinated axons can conduct at over 100 metres per second, because the impulse jumps between nodes of Ranvier. Unmyelinated axons are much slower.
Why does the synapse matter for memory?
Repeated activity can strengthen a synapse (long-term potentiation). This is one of the main cellular mechanisms believed to underlie learning and memory.