Synapse

In order to fully understand the interface methods of neuroprosthetics and brain-machine interfacing, increasingly used to interface with VR systems, a basic grounding of the wetware components of the brain might be beneficial.

The synapse is the cornerstone of the function of an organic brain. It is the point at which electrochemical signals pass from one neuron to the next. Most brain machine interfaces are centred around monitoring the firing of synapses.

A synapse is essentially a tiny gap, between an axon transmitting data, and a dendrite receiving data. The gap is typically only a few atoms wide. Information is passed one of two ways.

A. By chemical neurotransmitter release from the axon tip to receivers on the dendrite.
B. By electron exchange.

Once molecules or electrons pass from one to the other, the synapse has ?fired?. Presently, only the electrical exchanges ? electron circuitss ? can be interfaced by neuroprosthetics.

Each nerve cell may interface with thousands of synapses, in many cases there may be dozens or even hundreds of synapse connections between just two cells. Overall, the human brain is estimated to contain around 500 trillion synapses.

See Also: Axon Tip, Dendrite, Neuron

Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.

Axon Axon Tip Dendrite Neuron

Synapse

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