Neurophysiology is the area of neuroscience that studies the functioning of nerve cells, with a primary focus on their information coding, transmission, and storage capacities. Neurophysiology includes study of the electrical properties of the nerve cell membrane, the generation of action potentials that carry information, and the communication of this information between cells over the synaptic space. One important question occupying a great deal of time and effort is the nature of changes in synaptic efficiency that occur with learning. The functioning of groups of neurons, including reflex loops and assemblages of neurons into neural networks, is also widely studied.

See also ; NEUROSCIENCES

WARREN S. BROWN