Chapter 2.1, Problem 5EIQ

Summary Introduction

Introduction:

Sherrington proposed the term “synapse.” Based on his discovery, he infers the many properties of synapses before the technology arises. Sherrington studied reflexes using a dog. He pinched the feet of a dog and it raised the pinched leg after a short delay and extended the other leg. From this act, he found that the speed of conduction via the reflex arc varied and delayed transmission at the synapse.

Based on this observation, he suggested many important processes at the links between neurons: (1) reflexes are slower when compared with conduction on an axon, (2) many weak stimuli found at that time produce stronger reflexes when compared with one stimulus alone does, and (3) one set of muscles gets stimulated and another set of muscles gets relaxed.