Agnosia
The inability to interpret sensory information, resulting in a failure to recognize people, places, and things.
Aphasia
The inability to understand the meaning of words.
Anosmia
The inability to smell, caused either by injury to the olfactory tract of the brain, or by blockage of the nose.
Apraxias
The inability to move with intention.
Amusia
The inability to distinguish and differentiate between musical notes.
Temporal Lobes
The pair of lobes on the right and left sides of the cerebral cortex, positioned just beneath the temples. The temporal lobes process and interpret language, visual memory (especially long-term memory), music, and other sensory inputs.
Korsakov’s syndrome
More commonly called “Korsakoff syndrome,” this condition is caused by a severe vitamin B-1 deficiency in the brain, almost always due to late-stage chronic alcoholism. Symptoms include retrograde amnesia, short-term memory loss, and the inability to learn new information.
Proprioception
The brain’s conscious and unconscious sense of the relative position and orientation of each part of the body, guided by a complex web of input from sensory neurons and mechanisms in the inner ear.
Histrionic
Melodramatic; affected; overly or noticeably theatrical in behavior and character.
Confabulatory delirium
Those caught in a confabulatory delirium are lost in an excited, incoherent state as they spit out unending streams of sincerely-believed fabrications about who they are, who they’re with, and where they are. Confabulatory delirium is a common symptom of Korsakoff syndrome, caused by the combination of retrograde amnesia and short-term memory loss.
Hypergnosia / Hypermnesia
Hypergnosia is an exaggerated, enlarged, or distorted perception of sensory reality. Hypermnesia is an unusual enhancement of memory, usually caused by neural excitation or hypnosis.
Progressive postencephalitic parkinsonism (PEP)
Triggered by inflammation of the brain, postencephalitic parkinsonism refers to a continuous deterioration of motor control in the body caused by the degeneration of nerve cells in the basal ganglia. Symptoms range from unbalanced posture to complete rigidity.
Oculogyric trance
Some patients suffering from PEP will lose motor control of their eyes, causing the eyes to roll upwards for prolonged periods of time. In contemporary literature, this is usually called an "oculogyric crisis."
L-DOPA
L-DOPA, or levodopa, is a naturally-occurring amino acid in the body which serves as a precursor to dopamine and epinephrine (adrenaline). Having been synthesized and manufactured as a drug, it is used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Glioma
A tumor in the glial cells of the brain and spine. Glial cells serve as surrounding support structures for nerve cells.
Thrombosis
A clot inside of a blood vessel, restricting circulation.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Using small metal disks attached to the scalp, an EEG registers voltage across the brain in order to measure brain activity. EEGs are most commonly used to diagnose epilepsy, tumors, damage caused by encephalitis, strokes, and also to diagnose various sleep disorders.
Mental diplopia
A rare mental state caused by certain types of seizures where one experiences two realities simultaneously: perceived reality and a hallucinatory memory of one’s past.
Grand mal seizure
Grand mal seizures occur throughout the brain, caused by a burst of abnormal electrical activity. These seizures produce a total loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. They are most commonly triggered by epilepsy, although they can also occur due to extremely low blood sugar, high fever, or a stroke.
Splinter skills
A skill that, however impressive, is disconnected from its usual purpose or context and hence does not translate into the development of more generalized skill sets in an individual. Commonly observed in those with autism.
