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all-or-none law

 

Definitions from WordNet

Noun all-or-none law has 1 sense
  1. all-or-none law - (neurophysiology) a nerve impulse resulting from a weak stimulus is just as strong as a nerve impulse resulting from a strong stimulus
    --1 is a kind of
    law, law of nature

Definitions from the Web

All-or-None Law

Definition

The all-or-none law refers to the principle stating that the response of a nerve cell, muscle fiber, or other excitable cell will either be complete or not occur at all in response to a stimulus. This law states that once the threshold of stimulation is reached, the entire response will be produced, but if the stimulus is below the threshold, no response will occur.

Senses and Usages

1. Neurobiology:

In neurobiology, the all-or-none law is the fundamental rule that governs the behavior of individual nerve cells. It states that a neuron will either fire an action potential completely or not at all, regardless of the strength of the stimulus.

Example sentence: According to the all-or-none law, if a neuron receives a stimulus strong enough to reach the threshold, it will produce an action potential without any partial response.

2. Muscle Physiology:

In muscle physiology, the all-or-none law refers to the principle that a muscle fiber will either fully contract or not contract at all in response to a stimulus. This law applies to both skeletal and cardiac muscle fibers.

Example sentence: The all-or-none law explains why a muscle, when stimulated with a weak electrical impulse, does not produce a partial contraction but instead contracts fully.

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