high risk

significantly heightened vulnerability to a disorder or disease. An individual’s risk status is influenced by genetic, physical, and behavioral factors or conditions. For example, children of a parent with bipolar disorder have a much greater risk of developing the disorder than other children, and individuals who engage in unprotected sex are at high risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

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Psychology term of the day

January 26th 2025

congenital oculomotor apraxia

a condition, present at birth, in which a child is unable to fixate objects normally (see oculomotor apraxia). It is characterized by the absence of saccades and smooth-pursuit eye movements in the horizontal plane, but vertical eye movements are preserved: Children with this condition are often mistakenly thought to be blind. Between the ages of 4 and 6 months, they develop thrusting, horizontal head movements, sometimes blinking prominently or rubbing their eyelids when they attempt to change fixation. The cause of congenital oculomotor apraxia is unknown, but there is usually an improvement with age.