PsychologyChapter 5The neural control of behaviorBehavior is a product of the body’s machinery, especially the nervous system.Neurons, the building blocks of the brainThe brain contains roughly 80 to 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, and roughly 100 trillion synapses between neurons.These are all more-or-less active, and their collective activity monitors our internal and external environments, creates all of our mental experiences, and controls all of our behavior.The magic of this nervous system, lies in the organization of their multitudes.Each neuron is itself a complex decision-making machine.Each neuron receives information from multiple sources, integrates that information, and sends its response out to many other neurons or, in some cases, muscle cells or glands.Three basic varieties of neurons, and structures common to themThe brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system.Extensions from the central nervous system, called nerves, make up the peripheral nervous system.A neuron is a single cell of the nervous systemA nerve is a bundle of many neurons (or a bundle consisting of the axons of many neurons) within the peripheral nervous system.Nerves connect the central nervous system to the body’s sensory organs, muscles and glands.The central nervous system and peripheral nervous system are parts of an integrated whole. Neurons come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and serve countless specific functions.They can be grouped into three categories according to their functions and their locations in the overall layout of the nervous system.Sensory neuronsBundled together in nerves, carry information from...