This flow of positively-charged calcium ions causes all those tiny synaptic vesicles to fuse with the cell membrane and purge their chemical messengers.
If you try and learn a language, regardless of your age, synaptic connections are made, which ultimately create a denser grey matter and stronger white matter networks.
Upon arrival of neuronal impulse, synthesized acetylcholine is released into the synaptic cleft where it interacts with acetylcholine receptors located on the postsynaptic neurons.
Everyone loses gray matter between childhood and adulthood as part of a normal process called synaptic pruning, where some connections are lost, but the ones you keep get stronger.
Thanks to the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, new synaptic buds are formed, allowing new connections between neurons, and strengthening the neural network, where the information will be returned as long-term memory.
The initial action potential accounts for 1 to 5 milliseconds and synaptic transmissions only take 0.1 to 0.5 milliseconds, so the bulk of that time is spent within the axons.