The following are some neuro lingo that you may find throughout the site. It may be interesting also to you the glossary to put your knowledge of your nervous system and your health to the test.
You can search for a particular term, or click on a letter to browse entries.
There are currently 35 names in this directory beginning with the letter P.
Pain Behaviors
Responses to pain that include talking about pain, rubbing or protecting a person's affected body part, or avoiding routine activities because of pain.
Pain Scale
A system of rating a person's pain. Often based on a system of 0 to 10, where 0 means a person has no pain, and 10 means a person has the worst pain imaginable.
Palliative Care
A type of care for people with chronic, often life-threatening illness. Care generally focuses on relieving pain, stopping nausea, enhancing quality of life and attending to the psychosocial needs of the sick person.
Parallel Processing
When one of the neurons in you nervous system excites multiple others. As a result, several nerve pathways are utilized at once for the purpose of transmitting information throughout your body.
Parasympathetic Nervous System
This is a branch of your autonomic nervous system that controls relaxing your body. It lowers your heart rate and blood pressure and reduces breathing rate.
Parkinson's Disease
A degenerative disease of the nervous system caused by a significant loss of dopamine neurons resulting in dopamine depletion. Symptoms include slow movements, resting tremor, rigid muscles and imbalance while standing and walking.
Patellar Tendon
Your tendon that is associated with the knee jerk reflex. It connects the kneecap to the shinbone and aids in leg extension.
Peripheral Nervous System
The nerves that branch out of from brain and spinal cord to the periphery of the body.
Persistent Vegetative State
A neurological disorder in which a person's brain is largely unresponsive to the external environment. However, the brain still sends signals to the body to keep the body alive.
Phantom Pain
Pain or discomfort following limb amputation that feels as if it is coming from the missing limb.
Phenethylamine
A neurotransmitter that is found in small amounts in your brain , as well as in foods such as chocolate. Also known as PEA, it releases dopamine into your limbic system to create a feeling pleasure.
Phobia
A neurological disorder of mental processing in which a person has a fear which causes avoidance and or pain when a person is introduced to the fear-producing stimulus.
Physiatrist
A medical doctor who specializes in evaluating and recommending and performing treatments to restore a person's physical function from the effects of chronic disease.
Physical Dependence
A neurological condition in which a rapid discontinuation of a substance, such as alcohol, tobacco or another drug causes physiological symptoms such as sweating, weakness, nausea and anxiety.
Polymyositis
A muscle disorder associated with inflammation and skeletal muscle fiber damage that produces specific patterns of weakness.
Pons
Parts of your brain stem that connects your medulla and your midbrain. It works with the medulla to regulate breathing.
Positron-Emission Tomography
A diagnostic study, also known as PET, where radioactive isotopes injected in to the blood are then tracked by a computer through the brain. The study reveals blood flow, oxygen levels and glucose metabolism in the brain.
Precentral Gyrus
Area of your cerebral cortex responsible for your body's movement. It is located on the frontal lobe of each of your brain hemispheres and is responsible for body movement.
Prefrontal Cortex
Brain region located directly in the anterior frontal lobe. It is responsible for reasoning, planning, judgement, empathy, abstract ideas and conscience.
Primary Dementia
A neurological degenerative disease, like Alzheimer's Disease, that causes symptoms of dementia which does not occur as a result of another disease.
Proprioceptors
Your neural receptors that help maintain your balance by making you aware of your movement and your body position.
Prosody
The process of assigning additional meaning of language through the rhythm and intonation of speech.
Prosopagnosia
A neurological disorder where a person is unable to recognize another person by his or her facial features, a.k.a. facial blindness.
Pruning
A natural process of your brain in which weak neural connections die. Occurs primarily during your child's fetal development state, during teenage years and to a lesser extent during your adult years.
Pseudobulbar Affect
A neurological disorder that causes rapid changes in and poor control of emotions, such as uncontrollable crying or laughing.
Pseudobulbar Palsy
A neurological disorder in which a person is unable to control the muscles of his or her face, often associated with stroke.
Psychedelics
A group of non pharmaceutical drugs that work to activate several drug receptors, including serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Examples are Mescaline (peyote cactus), Psilocin ( in mushrooms) and Lysergic acid dimethylamine (LSD) and ergine (LSA) in plants. These drugs altered emotions and your sense of reality.