Below you can find some terminology used in the context of Neurorehabilitation, grouped by subcategories, ordered alphabetically.
Akinetic Mutism: Akinetic mutism (AM) is a rare neurological disorder characterized by the presence of an intact level of consciousness and sensorimotor capacity but with a simultaneous decrease in goal-directed behavior and emotions. Patients are in a wakeful state of profound apathy, seemingly indifferent to pain, thirst, or hunger.
Aphasia: Aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. Aphasia leaves a person unable to communicate effectively with others.
Apraxia: Apraxia is the loss of ability to execute or carry out skilled movements and gestures, despite having the physical ability and desire to perform them.
Astereognosis: Astereognosis is used to describe both the inability to discriminate shape and size by touch and the inability to recognize objects by touch. These are apperceptive and associative types of agnosia. The term tactile agnosia is used for the associative type.
Ataxia: Ataxia refers to a neurological disorder characterized by a lack of coordination and voluntary muscle control. It typically manifests as unsteady movements, impaired balance, and difficulties with tasks requiring fine motor skills due to dysfunction or damage to the cerebellum or its connections.
Neglect: Neglect is characterized by an individual’s inability to attend, perceive, or be aware of stimuli on one side of their body or environment, typically affecting the side opposite to the brain damage caused by the stroke.
Pathology: Pathology is the medical field that studies the causes, effects, and nature of diseases by examining bodily tissues, organs, and bodily fluids.
Stereognosis: Stereognosis is the mental perception of depth or three-dimensionality by the senses, usually in reference to the ability to perceive the form of solid objects by touch.
Afferent and Efferent: Afferent neurons carry information from sensory receptors of the skin and other organs to the central nervous system (i.e., brain and spinal cord), whereas efferent neurons carry motor information away from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands of the body.
Motor Neurons: Motor neurons are specialized neurons that directly connect the central nervous system (CNS) to muscles, transmitting signals that initiate and control voluntary and involuntary movements. Upper motor neurons originate in the brain and provide instructions to lower motor neurons located in the spinal cord or brainstem, which directly activate muscles to produce movement.
Pyramidal Tracts: The pyramidal tracts are part of the UMN system and are a system of efferent nerve fibers that carry signals from the cerebral cortex to either the brainstem or the spinal cord.
Reticulospinal tract: A collection of nerve fibers that originates from the reticular formation in the brainstem and extends down the spinal cord. It plays a crucial role in coordinating voluntary and involuntary movements, as well as regulating muscle tone and posture.
Spinal Interneurons: Spinal interneurons are neurons located within the spinal cord that act as intermediaries between sensory neurons and motor neurons, facilitating the transmission of signals for motor control, reflexes, and coordination of movement within the spinal cord.
Ventral horn motoneurons: Motor neurons located in the spinal cord’s ventral horn. They transmit signals from the central nervous system to skeletal muscles, enabling voluntary muscle contractions and movement. Dysfunction of these motoneurons can lead to motor impairments and conditions like paralysis or muscle weakness.
sensorimotor learning: the improvement, through practice, in the performance of sensory-guided motor behavior [J. W. Krakauer and P. Mazzoni. Human sensorimotor learning: Adaptation, skill, and beyond. (2011)]
declarative memory: also known as explicit memory, is a type of long-term memory that allows us to consciously recall factual information and specific events. [E. Tulving. Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain (2002)]
non-declarative memory: also known as implicit memory, involves skills and procedures learned without conscious awareness, like riding a bike or tying your shoes.[E. Tulving. Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain (2002)]