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- Glossary
Color tone
One of the dimensions of color perception: the dominant wavelength.
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- Glossary
Misattribution
Mismatch refers to an incorrect attribution of cause, for example between physical experience and cognitive evaluation. In an experiment conducted by Dutton and Aron (1974), male subjects were placed in a risky situation, which caused intense physical arousal. At the end of the experiment, the men were interviewed by an attractive woman. Two-thirds of the test subjects later called the woman – they had misattributed their arousal caused by the risk to romantic feelings.
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- Glossary
Fissure
The strong folding of the cortex (cerebral cortex) creates fissures – from the Latin: cleft. These clefts can be used to describe individual brain structures. For example, the fissura sylvii separates the temporal lobe from the frontal lobe. Less deep clefts are often referred to as sulci.
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- Glossary
Reticular formation
The reticular formation is a network of numerous nuclei in the brain stem. It has a variety of tasks, for example, it is responsible for alertness, the integration of motor, sensory, and vegetative processes, and the sleep-wake cycle.
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- Glossary
Fornix
The fornix is a nerve pathway consisting of approximately 12 million fibers that connects the hippocampus (one of the oldest structures in the brain in evolutionary terms) and subiculum with the septum and mammillary bodies.
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- Glossary
Photopigment
Photopigments are light-sensitive molecules in the receptors of the retina. When photons (particles of light) strike the photopigment, it isomerizes, triggering a cascade of various processes. In this way, light is converted into a nerve impulse. All rods have the same type of photopigment, while the cones have one of three possible photopigments.
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- Glossary
Photoreceptors
Photoreceptors are the light-sensitive cells of the retina; they convert light into electrical potentials. There are approximately 127 million photoreceptors in the retina, including seven million cones and 120 million rods.
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- Glossary
Fovea centralis
The fovea centralis is located in the center of the macula and is the area of sharpest vision in birds and higher mammals. Its diameter in humans is approximately 1.5 mm. There are no rods in the fovea, only cones, which are interconnected to the ganglion cells in the central area of the fovea at a ratio of 1:1, resulting in very high "resolution."
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- Glossary
frontal
An anatomical position designation – frontal means "towards the forehead," i.e., at the front.
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- Glossary
Frontal lobe
The frontal cortex is the largest of the four lobes of the cerebral cortex and its functions are correspondingly comprehensive. The front area, known as the prefrontal cortex, is responsible for complex action planning (known as executive functions), which also shapes our personality. Its development (myelination) takes up to 30 years and even then is not yet complete. Other important components of the frontal cortex are Broca's area, which controls our ability to express ourselves linguistically, and the primary motor cortex, which sends movement impulses throughout the body.
