What allows the action potential to pass quickly and efficiently down the axon?

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Consider the question: What allows the action potential to pass quickly and efficiently down the axon?

Option 1: Continuous conduction. This describes the slower, non-myelinated propagation of action potentials along the entire axon membrane, which is less efficient and slower compared to myelinated fibers. While it is a real mode of conduction, it does not explain the rapid, efficient passage seen in myelinated axons.

Option 2: Myelin. Myelin sheath insulates the axon and enables saltatory conduction, where the action potential jumps between nodes of Ranvier. This dramatically increases conduction speed and efficiency by reducing the need to depolarize every segment of membrane, thus conserving energy and enabling rapid signaling.

Option 3: Neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers released at synapses to communicate with downstream neurons or targets. They function at synaptic junctions, not along the axon’s interior conduction process, so they do not explain how the action potential travels rapidly down the axon itself.

Option 4: Sodium ions. Sodium ions are essential for the generation of the action potential (they rush in during depolarization), but merely having Na+ ions present does not by itself confer the rapid, efficient propagation along the axon. The speed and efficiency come from the myelinated structure and saltatory conduction, not from sodium ions alone.

In summary, the mechanism that best accounts for fast, efficient transmission along the axon is the presence of the myelin sheath enabling saltatory conduction, while the other options describe components or phenomena related to neural signaling but not the primary reason for rapid axonal conduction.

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What allows the action potential to pass quickly and efficiently down the axon?

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PSYC1101.40653.202540 Exam 1- Requires Respondus LockDown Browser

What allows the action potential to pass quickly and efficiently down the axon?

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

Dr. Dre is investigating reflexes in two different animals: a crab and a fish. Action potentials are found to pass more rapidly along the fish's neurons. What is a likely explanation?

True or False: In brain development, myelination starts occurring at the end of infancy and continues throughout childhood but then becomes complete at the end of adolescence.

Question at position 32 Schwann cells primarily:Wrap around axons to form myelin sheathsCover axons without gaps for continuous insulationInsulate the central nervous system axonsRegulate the extracellular environment of neuron cell bodies

The axons of peripheral system neurons are surrounded by cells called ______ They wrap the axon in many layers of a whitish, non-conductive protein called ______. Without this coating, the electrical impulse that propagates the nerve signal can be lost to the surrounding tissue.

Schwann's cells form myelin sheaths around axons in the central nervous system.

What involves an increase in the speed and efficiency with which information travels through the nervous system during brain development in children between the ages of 3 and 5.

What is myelination?

Which of the following is not true about myelination?

More Practical Tools for Students Powered by AI Study Helper

Making Your Study Simpler

The axons of peripheral system neurons are surrounded by cells called They wrap the axon in many layers of a whitish, non-conductive protein called . Without this coating, the electrical impulse that propagates the nerve signal can be lost to the surrounding tissue.