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- Glossary
White matter
The white matter refers to the myelinated fibers of the nervous system that connect one neuron to another. The white color is caused by the myelin sheath surrounding the fibers.
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- Glossary
Williams-Beuren syndrome
Williams-Beuren syndrome is a rare developmental disorder that is genetically determined. Those affected are missing 26-28 genes on chromosome 7. One of these genes is crucial for the development of connective tissue, which is why it cannot form properly in people with Williams-Beuren syndrome. Other characteristics include prominent cheekbones, a bulbous nose, and usually mild to moderate cognitive impairment, while language skills and social interaction are often relatively well developed.
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- Glossary
Dorsal pathway
The dorsal visual processing pathway is the part of visual information processing that is responsible for the spatial localization of objects and the perception of movement. It transmits visual information from the primary visual cortex (V1) and secondary visual areas (V2, V3) to the parietal lobes, where spatial orientation, motion analysis, and action planning take place.
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- Glossary
Cones
The cones are a type of photoreceptor in the retina. The three different types of cones – S, M, and L – are each stimulated by short, medium, and long wavelengths of visible light, enabling color vision. They are highly concentrated in the fovea and enable sharp vision.
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- Glossary
Cerebellar cortex
The cortex of the cerebellum, which, like that of the cerebrum, is composed of gray matter, or nerve cells. It consists of three layers and is highly folded, creating what are known as foliae, or leaves.
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- Glossary
Ciliary muscle
Through its activity via the zonular fibers, the ciliary muscle changes the curvature of the lens, thereby enabling accommodation (adjustment).
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- Glossary
Zona incerta
Zona incerta – the name was coined by Auguste Forel and means that nothing certain can be said about this core of the diencephalon. That was in 1877, and since then it has been discovered that the zona incerta is very well connected throughout the brain. But its function remains unknown.
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- Glossary
Zonules
The zonules are arranged in a radial pattern around the lens of the eye and connect it to the ciliary muscle.
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- Glossary
Obsessive-compulsive disorders
This term summarizes neuropsychiatric disorders that manifest themselves in the form of obsessive thoughts on the one hand and compulsive actions on the other. For example, those affected have the urge to devote themselves to constantly recurring, mostly anxious thoughts, to wash themselves excessively often or to control their fellow human beings disproportionately. While neuroscientists used to try to explain OCD in purely psychological terms, it is now believed that some biological factors also contribute to its development, such as a disturbed metabolism of various neurotransmitters in the brain.
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- Glossary
Twin studies
Pairs of twins are valuable subjects for human geneticists and psychologists who want to find out to what extent certain characteristics are genetically determined and what role environmental conditions play. Of particular interest here is how much more similar identical twins are compared to fraternal twins. The degree of genetic similarity differs between identical (100%) and fraternal twins (50%). However, they live in a similar environment, so the degree of greater similarity between identical twins compared to fraternal twins can be used to estimate the genetic contribution to traits such as intelligence. In this case, depending on the study, it was estimated to be between 50 and 80 percent, depending on whether the environmental differences in the population (health care, access to education) are large or small.
