Lability - Lunatism. Glossary of Terms - Psychophysiology

Lecture

Lability - functional mobility, the rate at which elementary cycles of excitation proceed in nervous, muscular, or other excitable tissue.
Labile - unstable, unsteady, changeable.
Latent - hidden, not outwardly manifested.
Latent period - the time elapsing from the onset of a stimulus to the occurrence of a response.
Latent trait - a psychological trait that cannot be measured directly through testing but can be revealed by analyzing the structure of relationships among measured behavioral parameters.
Lateralization of functions - the process by which the interhemispheric organization of mental processes is formed on the basis of the specific contribution of each cerebral hemisphere to the performance of mental activity.
Lateral - situated to the side, away from the midline of the body (the opposite of medial).
Lateral inhibition - one of the mechanisms of interaction among retinal receptors.
Lateral geniculate body - see External geniculate body.
Left-handedness - congenital or acquired use of the left hand; congenital left-handedness may be hereditary or arise from features of intrauterine development.
Leptomeninx - the arachnoid and pia mater of the brain taken together.
Lethal - deadly, fatal.
CSF - cerebrospinal fluid.
Limbic system - a group of structures of the diencephalon and forebrain forming a ring in the central part of the brain. The limbic system includes: the hippocampus, fornix, tract and tubercle, olfactory bulb, mammillary bodies, amygdala, anterior and nonspecific nuclei of the thalamus, cingulate gyrus, some hypothalamic nuclei, and the reticular formation of the brain. The limbic system regulates the emotional and motivational sphere of a person.
Lymph - a fluid close in chemical composition to blood plasma; it circulates through the lymphatic system and fills the intercellular spaces, serving as a nutrient medium for cells.
Lobotomy - a surgical intervention resulting in the exclusion of the influence of the frontal lobes of the brain on the rest of the CNS structures.
Localization of functions in the cerebral cortex - a psychophysiological concept that substantiates the correlation of higher mental functions with specific areas of the brain and their systemic associations.
Local - concentrated in one place, characteristic of one place.
Local cerebral blood flow - the supply of energy resources, above all oxygen and glucose, to brain tissue.
Local electroshock - the action of electric current on a specific group of neurons or a nerve center.
Locomotion - movement, motor acts associated with active displacement in space.
Locus (from the Latin locus) - place; in psychophysiology, the site of a given active center in the cortex or subcortical structures of the brain.
Lunatism (somnambulism) - sleepwalking, wandering, an outdated name for somnambulism - a sleep disorder in which automatic, habitual but unconscious actions are performed during sleep.