The process of discovering or asserting an objective or intrinsic relation between two objects or concepts; a faculty or power that enables a person to make judgments; the process of bringing to light and asserting the implicit meaning of a concept; a critical evaluation of a person or situation.

Standards of conduct that distinguish right from wrong.

Investigative technique commonly used during ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY in which a series of bright light flashes or visual patterns are used to elicit brain activity.

The application of current standards of morality to past actions, institutions, or persons.

The process of making a selective intellectual judgment when presented with several complex alternatives consisting of several variables, and usually defining a course of action or an idea.

The act of knowing or the recognition of a distance by recollective thought, or by means of a sensory process which is under the influence of set and of prior experience.

Characteristics or attributes of persons or things which elicit pleasurable feelings.

The knowledge or perception that someone or something present has been previously encountered.

The ability to estimate periods of time lapsed or duration of time.

Mental process to visually perceive a critical number of facts (the pattern), such as characters, shapes, displays, or designs.

Signals for an action; that specific portion of a perceptual field or pattern of stimuli to which a subject has learned to respond.

The selecting and organizing of visual stimuli based on the individual's past experience.

Differential response to different stimuli.

The science dealing with the correlation of the physical characteristics of a stimulus, e.g., frequency or intensity, with the response to the stimulus, in order to assess the psychologic factors involved in the relationship.

The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed.

Knowing or understanding without conscious use of reasoning. (Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors, 1994)

Perception of three-dimensionality.

A philosophically coherent set of propositions (for example, utilitarianism) which attempts to provide general norms for the guidance and evaluation of moral conduct. (from Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed)

The anterior portion of the head that includes the skin, muscles, and structures of the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and jaw.

The perceiving of attributes, characteristics, and behaviors of one's associates or social groups.

Imaging techniques used to colocalize sites of brain functions or physiological activity with brain structures.

The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited.

The awareness of the spatial properties of objects; includes physical space.

Non-invasive method of demonstrating internal anatomy based on the principle that atomic nuclei in a strong magnetic field absorb pulses of radiofrequency energy and emit them as radiowaves which can be reconstructed into computerized images. The concept includes proton spin tomographic techniques.

The sensory interpretation of the dimensions of objects.

The relationships between symbols and their meanings.

Learning in which the subject must respond with one word or syllable when presented with another word or syllable.

The real or apparent movement of objects through the visual field.

Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person.

Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties.

The misinterpretation of a real external, sensory experience.

Observable changes of expression in the face in response to emotional stimuli.

The sensory discrimination of a pattern shape or outline.

The minimum amount of stimulus energy necessary to elicit a sensory response.

Focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of others. It is the act of heeding or taking notice or concentrating.

A statistical technique that isolates and assesses the contributions of categorical independent variables to variation in the mean of a continuous dependent variable.

The ability to understand the nature and effect of the act in which the individual is engaged. (From Black's Law Dictionary, 6th ed).

Tests designed to assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors. They are used in diagnosing brain dysfunction or damage and central nervous system disorders or injury.

Intellectual or mental process whereby an organism obtains knowledge.

An illusion of vision usually affecting spatial relations.

The process by which the nature and meaning of sensory stimuli are recognized and interpreted.

The application of a concept to that which it is not literally the same but which suggests a resemblance and comparison. Medical metaphors were widespread in ancient literature; the description of a sick body was often used by ancient writers to define a critical condition of the State, in which one corrupt part can ruin the entire system. (From Med Secoli Arte Sci, 1990;2(3):abstract 331)

The coordination of a sensory or ideational (cognitive) process and a motor activity.

The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.

The detailed examination of observable activity or behavior associated with the execution or completion of a required function or unit of work.

The branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of the beautiful. It includes beauty, esthetic experience, esthetic judgment, esthetic aspects of medicine, etc.

A discipline concerned with relations between messages and the characteristics of individuals who select and interpret them; it deals directly with the processes of encoding (phonetics) and decoding (psychoacoustics) as they relate states of messages to states of communicators.

The process whereby auditory stimuli are selected, organized, and interpreted by the organism.

The act of making a selection among two or more alternatives, usually after a period of deliberation.

Recognition and discrimination of the heaviness of a lifted object.

The science or philosophy of law. Also, the application of the principles of law and justice to health and medicine.

Theoretical representations that simulate psychological processes and/or social processes. These include the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment.

The body of truths or facts accumulated in the course of time, the cumulated sum of information, its volume and nature, in any civilization, period, or country.

Complex mental function having four distinct phases: (1) memorizing or learning, (2) retention, (3) recall, and (4) recognition. Clinically, it is usually subdivided into immediate, recent, and remote memory.

The ability to attribute mental states (e.g., beliefs, desires, feelings, intentions, thoughts, etc.) to self and to others, allowing an individual to understand and infer behavior on the basis of the mental states. Difference or deficit in theory of mind is associated with ASPERGER SYNDROME; AUTISTIC DISORDER; and SCHIZOPHRENIA, etc.

The branch of philosophy that treats of first principles, including ontology (the nature of existence or being) and cosmology (the origin and structure of the universe). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

The process by which individuals internalize standards of right and wrong conduct.

The sum or the stock of words used by a language, a group, or an individual. (From Webster, 3d ed)

Presentation of pertinent data by one with special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject.

The act of deceiving or the fact of being deceived.

The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.

Use of sound to elicit a response in the nervous system.

Psychophysical technique that permits the estimation of the bias of the observer as well as detectability of the signal (i.e., stimulus) in any sensory modality. (From APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)

Behavioral manifestations of cerebral dominance in which there is preferential use and superior functioning of either the left or the right side, as in the preferred use of the right hand or right foot.

Abstract standards or empirical variables in social life which are believed to be important and/or desirable.

The observable response of a man or animal to a situation.

The condition in which reasonable knowledge regarding risks, benefits, or the future is not available.

Upper central part of the cerebral hemisphere. It is located posterior to central sulcus, anterior to the OCCIPITAL LOBE, and superior to the TEMPORAL LOBES.

The ability to detect sharp boundaries (stimuli) and to detect slight changes in luminance at regions without distinct contours. Psychophysical measurements of this visual function are used to evaluate visual acuity and to detect eye disease.

A process by which an individual unconsciously endeavors to pattern himself after another. This process is also important in the development of the personality, particularly the superego or conscience, which is modeled largely on the behavior of adult significant others.

Lower lateral part of the cerebral hemisphere responsible for auditory, olfactory, and semantic processing. It is located inferior to the lateral fissure and anterior to the OCCIPITAL LOBE.

The capability to perform acceptably those duties directly related to patient care.

The illumination of an environment and the arrangement of lights to achieve an effect or optimal visibility. Its application is in domestic or in public settings and in medical and non-medical environments.

A technique of inputting two-dimensional images into a computer and then enhancing or analyzing the imagery into a form that is more useful to the human observer.

The act or fact of grasping the meaning, nature, or importance of; understanding. (American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed) Includes understanding by a patient or research subject of information disclosed orally or in writing.

The rostral part of the frontal lobe, bounded by the inferior precentral fissure in humans, which receives projection fibers from the MEDIODORSAL NUCLEUS OF THE THALAMUS. The prefrontal cortex receives afferent fibers from numerous structures of the DIENCEPHALON; MESENCEPHALON; and LIMBIC SYSTEM as well as cortical afferents of visual, auditory, and somatic origin.

Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures.

Learning to respond verbally to a verbal stimulus cue.

Games designed to provide information on hypotheses, policies, procedures, or strategies.

The science of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

A verbal or nonverbal means of communicating ideas or feelings.

The science pertaining to the interrelationship of psychologic phenomena and the individual's response to the physical properties of sound.

The part of CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM that is contained within the skull (CRANIUM). Arising from the NEURAL TUBE, the embryonic brain is comprised of three major parts including PROSENCEPHALON (the forebrain); MESENCEPHALON (the midbrain); and RHOMBENCEPHALON (the hindbrain). The developed brain consists of CEREBRUM; CEREBELLUM; and other structures in the BRAIN STEM.

Mental processing of chromatic signals (COLOR VISION) from the eye by the VISUAL CORTEX where they are converted into symbolic representations. Color perception involves numerous neurons, and is influenced not only by the distribution of wavelengths from the viewed object, but also by its background color and brightness contrast at its boundary.

A person authorized to decide or act for another person, for example, a person having durable power of attorney.

Sound that expresses emotion through rhythm, melody, and harmony.

A cognitive process involving the formation of ideas generalized from the knowledge of qualities, aspects, and relations of objects.

The science or study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and reception, and their analysis, classification, and transcription. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

The failure by the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately, which results in an error. Sources for this may be due to the observer's missing an abnormality, or to faulty technique resulting in incorrect test measurement, or to misinterpretation of the data. Two varieties are inter-observer variation (the amount observers vary from one another when reporting on the same material) and intra-observer variation (the amount one observer varies between observations when reporting more than once on the same material).

Subjective feeling of having committed an error, offense or sin; unpleasant feeling of self-criticism. These result from acts, impulses, or thoughts contrary to one's personal conscience.

Conceptual functions or thinking in all its forms.

The continuous visual field seen by a subject through space and time.

Sensation of making physical contact with objects, animate or inanimate. Tactile stimuli are detected by MECHANORECEPTORS in the skin and mucous membranes.

The kind of action or activity proper to the judiciary, particularly its responsibility for decision making.

A collective expression for all behavior patterns acquired and socially transmitted through symbols. Culture includes customs, traditions, and language.

Interference with the FREEDOM or PERSONAL AUTONOMY of another person, with justifications referring to the promotion of the person's good or the prevention of harm to the person. (from Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 1995); more generally, not allowing a person to make decisions on his or her own behalf.

Stimulation at an intensity below that where a differentiated response can be elicited.

Differences of opinion or disagreements that may arise, for example, between health professionals and patients or their families, or against a political regime.