basal ganglia

a group of nuclei (neuron cell bodies) deep within the cerebral hemispheres of the brain that includes the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and subthalamic nucleus. The putamen and globus pallidus are together known as the lenticular (or lentiform) nucleus, the lenticular nucleus and caudate nucleus are together known as the corpus striatum, and the caudate nucleus and putamen are together called the striatum. The basal ganglia are involved in the generation of goal-directed voluntary movement. Also called basal nuclei.

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Psychology term of the day

January 18th 2025

hierarchical model of personality

a model of either within-person dynamics or individual differences in personality in which some psychological constructs are viewed as high-level variables that organize or govern the functioning of other lower level variables. For example, a hierarchical model of personality traits might view the construct sociability as being at a lower level in a hierarchy than the construct extraversion: Sociability would be seen as a form or example of the higher level trait of extraversion.