In any scientific experiment, there are usually two groups under study that are similar to each other except that one receives a treatment or is being manipulated while the other is not. We have the treatment groups and the control groups.
The treatment group is the group that receives a treatment or condition that is being manipulated, while the control group is the group that does not receive the treatment or condition being manipulated. The control group serves as a baseline that enable you to ascertain the effect a treatment being tested has.
The phenomenon which decides whether an action potential will be generated or not based on the cumulative effect of various excitatory and inhibitory signals that act on the neuron is called summation.
Summation is of two types- temporal and spatial.
When multiple presynaptic cells are acting o a neuron then the phenomenon of spatial summation occurs.
The spatial summation leads to the addition of various signals acting at different places of the neurons, i.e there is the addition of signals occurring at various areas of input.
If the signals are excitatory they will add up and would contribute to the generation fo action potential and if they are inhibitory they would try to suppress the firing of action potential
