Synapses are considered as:

Concept

A synapse is the junction at which one neuron passes a signal on to the next. The two nerve cells never fuse: an extremely narrow gap separates them, and it is across this gap that the connection between the neurons is made.

In a comprehension question the passage’s own wording settles the answer. When the text states a definition outright, the correct choice is the paraphrase that reproduces every part of that definition — here both the size of the gap and what takes place at it.

Application

The passage defines the term directly while discussing the brain’s development at the cellular level: “Synapses are tiny gaps between neurons where connections between neurons are made.”

1. Size: the passage calls the gaps tiny, so the paraphrase must keep them very small.

2. Location: the gaps lie between neurons, i.e. between nerve cells, not anywhere in the blood supply.

3. Function: connections between neurons are made at those gaps, which is what the passage says happens there.

The paraphrase that carries all three parts is “Tiny gaps between neurons where connections between neurons are made.”

Cross-check

• “Large gaps between neurons where connections between neurons are made” keeps the location and the function but reverses the size the passage gives, since the text calls the gaps tiny.

• “An element responsible for blood circulation in the brain” points to the brain’s vascular supply, whereas the passage introduces synapses in its discussion of connections between nerve cells.

• “One and only particle of the brain related to hand-eye-coordination” borrows a separate idea from the passage: hand-eye co-ordination is linked there to myelination finishing at about four years of age, and a synapse is described as a gap, not as a particle.

Hence synapses are considered tiny gaps between neurons where connections between neurons are made.