summation

7.8

Several quick signals add together to make a stronger nerve or muscle response

: sumación

During the experiment, the researchers noted that the summation of the stimuli resulted in a significant reaction from the tissue.

Examples

Well, we know neurons need a lot of spatial summation to fire, right?
It was speculated that these results could be from one of two causes: either the Wever-Bray phenomenon or, considering the distance from the ear, the summation of electrical activity of the VIIIth nerve.

Academic text (1998)
The summation of the a and b processes leads to the emergent response of the overall system.

Academic text (2006)
The resultant affective state is the summation of the two processes (a + b) at any given time.

Academic text (2004)
Since the method of measurement was simply the placement of an electrode around the entire nerve with a common ground return to the body, I postulated that the recorded music signal was, in fact, the summation of nerve activity modulated by the sound entering the ear.

Academic text (1998)
The summation of multiple signals in the neuron can trigger a response that is stronger than any single signal alone.
In physiology, summation refers to how different stimuli can combine to produce a muscle contraction that wouldn't occur if only one stimulus was present.

summation singular

summations plural

summation = sum (transparent) = sum + ation

The physiological sense still follows the idea of stimuli 'adding up' to produce a stronger response, so the base meaning remains clear.

Summation comes from the Latin summa meaning 'sum' or 'total', so in the body it means small signals 'add up' to make a larger response.