wakefulness

n. a condition of awareness of one’s surroundings, generally coupled with an ability to communicate with others or to signal understanding of what is being communicated by others. It is characterized by low-amplitude, irregular, fast-wave electrical activity in the raw electroencephalogram.

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Psychology term of the day

January 26th 2025

sexually dimorphic nucleus

a nucleus of the central nervous system that differs in size between males and females. In humans, for example, a nucleus in the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus that synthesizes gonadotropin-releasing hormone tends to be larger and more active in males than in females because gonadotropin release is continuous (it is cyclical in females). In songbirds whose males sing more than females, several brain nuclei associated with both song learning and song production are larger in males than in females.