edgepedia

Neuroscience as a discipline

191 articles

Transcranial Doppler

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography, introduced by Aaslid in 1982, is a noninvasive 2 MHz ultrasound test measuring blood flow velocity in basal brain arteries, used for vasospasm, stroke, sickle cell screening, and brain death confirmation.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS, rTMS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique introduced by Barker in 1985, using pulsed magnetic fields to depolarize cortical neurons; FDA-cleared for depression, OCD, and migraine, with seizure risk under 0.1%.

Vagus nerve stimulation

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS, taVNS) is electrical neuromodulation of the vagus nerve, FDA-approved since 1997 for drug-resistant epilepsy and later for depression, obesity, stroke rehabilitation, and rheumatoid arthritis, with about 46% of epilepsy patients achieving 50% seizure reduction.

Vestibular implant

A vestibular implant is an implanted neurostimulator that restores balance by electrically stimulating the vestibular nerve in people with bilateral vestibular hypofunction, first implanted in 2007 and still investigational.

Vision research

Vision Research (ISSN 0042-6989) is an Elsevier peer-reviewed journal of human, vertebrate, and invertebrate visual function, founded in 1961 in England, MEDLINE-indexed since 1964, publishing research, reviews, and special issues on vision.

Visual Evoked Potentials

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs, visual evoked responses) are averaged EEG signals from the occipital cortex in response to pattern or flash stimuli, used clinically to assess optic nerve and visual pathway function, notably prolonged P100 latency in optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis.

Vollum Institute

The Vollum Institute, founded in 1987 and named for philanthropists Howard and Jean Vollum, is a privately endowed neuroscience research institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.

Voxel-based morphometry

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is an MRI neuroimaging method comparing gray matter voxel-wise between groups via normalization, segmentation, smoothing, and statistical parametric mapping; introduced by Ashburner and Friston (2000), distinct from surface-based morphometry.

Wernicke's area

Wernicke's area (Brodmann area 22), posterior superior temporal gyrus of the dominant hemisphere, described by Carl Wernicke in 1874; traditionally the language comprehension center, now reinterpreted as supporting phonological retrieval.

Witzelsucht

Witzelsucht, from German Witz (joke) and Sucht (addiction), is a rare neurological syndrome of compulsive punning and inappropriate joking after right frontal lobe damage; coined by Hermann Oppenheim in 1890, distinct from Jastrowitz's moria.

Yawn

Yawn: involuntary wide mouth opening with deep inhalation and slow expiration, nearly universal in vertebrates. Functions debated: brain thermoregulation and arousal; contagious yawning shows familiarity bias and reduced susceptibility with psychopathic traits.