Reply to comment

I'm so perplexed; my confusion lies in the notion of zero input yielding outputs. It would seem that an action potential, which ultimately yields some response, can only by initiated by a depolarization in the axon membrane. Maybe I’m missing something major here, but shouldn’t it follow that something—perhaps some input—must be present in order to generate a change in membrane permeability, and thus a subsequent output? I guess what I’m really asking is this; when, where, and how does the whole process start if such a phenomenon as “zero input” exists? I’m having a difficult time understanding how a membrane at resting potential can spontaneously alter its permeability and generate action potentials without any sort of input. For this reason, I’m inclined to think of nervous system communication as a series of ever-perpetuating action potentials, where at no instance can an action potential arise without some sort of stimulus—even when it appears that “zero input” yields an output, an input may indeed present.

Someone please enlighten me...