ABSTRACT
Fran is excited about her neuroscience course, and although the course is just beginning this week, she is eager to start reading her textbook. She glides over to her favorite spot in the library, sits down, and delicately places her open book on the table. Her assigned reading starts with a section on the process of neural transmission, which explains how one nerve cell communicates with another. It begins with a description of the structure of nerve cells and contains lots of technical terms like “neuron,” “cell body,” “axon,” and “dendrite,” just to name a few. Fran wants to stay super-focused on the book, so she makes sure there is no pencil and paper to distract her. She silently reads every word in every sentence, trying not to think of anything else but the words in that book.
