attention: The phenomenon of focusing mental resources on a specific object or event.
behavior: The way something, often a person or other organism, acts towards others, or conducts itself.
cognitive: A term that relates to mental activities, such as thinking, learning, remembering and solving puzzles.
colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.
core: Something — usually round-shaped — in the center of an object.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
disorder: (in medicine) A condition where the body does not work appropriately, leading to what might be viewed as an illness. This term can sometimes be used interchangeably with disease.
electrode: A device that conducts electricity and is used to make contact with the non-metal part of an electrical circuit, or that contacts something through which an electrical signal moves. (in electronics) Part of a semiconductor device (such as a transistor) that either releases or collects electrons (negative charges) or holes (positive charges) — or that can control their movement.
electroencephalography: (abbr. EEG) A technique to detect electrical activity in the brain using electrodes that press against the outside of the head. This technique charts a series of brainwaves. A graph of the measured brainwaves is called an electroencephalogram, which also is abbreviated EEG.
focus: (In vision, verb, “to focus”) The action a person’s eyes take to adapt to light and distance, enabling them to see objects clearly. (in behavior) To look or concentrate intently on some particular point or thing.
fundamental: Something that is basic or serves as the foundation for another thing or idea.
information: (as opposed to data) Facts provided or trends learned about something or someone, often as a result of studying data.
intuition: The ability to understand some issue — or feel one confidently knows something — without having to consciously analyze it. Some people refer to it as a “gut feeling” that something is true. In fact, it’s based on an unconscious analysis of past experiences that may relate to the issue.
mentor: An individual who lends his or her experience to advise someone starting out in a field. In science, teachers or researchers often mentor students or younger scientists by helping them to refine their research questions. Mentors also can offer feedback on how young investigators prepare to conduct research or interpret their data.
neuroscientist: Someone who studies the structure or function of the brain and other parts of the nervous system.
organ: (in biology) Various parts of an organism that perform one or more particular functions. For instance, an ovary is an organ that makes eggs, the brain is an organ that makes sense of nerve signals and a plant’s roots are organs that take in nutrients and moisture.
primary: An adjective meaning major, first or most important.
real time: A term that connotes immediacy; something is being studied, recorded and/or reported at the very time it is happening.
recall: To remember.
sequence: The precise order of related things within some series.
skull: The skeleton of a person’s or animal’s head.
undergraduate: A student who is attending college but has not yet graduated.
virtual: Being almost like something. An object or concept that is virtually real would be almost true or real — but not quite. The term often is used to refer to something that has been modeled by (or accomplished by) a computer using numbers, not by using real-world parts. So a virtual motor would be one that could be seen on a computer screen and tested by computer programming (but it wouldn’t be a three-dimensional device made from metal). (in computing) Things that are performed in or through digital processing and/or the internet. For instance, a virtual conference may be where people attended by watching it over the internet.
virtual reality: A three-dimensional simulation of the real world that seems very realistic and allows people to interact with it. To do so, people usually wear a special helmet or glasses with sensors.
working memory: The ability to hold something in the mind for a short period of time and to adapt it for use, such as hearing a sequence of numbers, then reciting them backwards.