Trail making test

Sub-test of the Delis-Kaplan Executive FunctionSystem (D-KEFS; Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer,2001), designed to measure cognitive flexibility or processing speed by means of a visuomotor sequencing task.  The D-KEFS Trail making test onsists of a series of five conditions: visual scanning, number sequencing,letter sequencing, number-letter switching, and motor speed.  In the visualscanning condition, the particpant crosses all the …

Tower test

Sub-test of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS; Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer,2001), designed to measure spatial planning and problem-solving abilities.  It consistsof a board with three vertical pegs of equal length, and five colored disksvarying in size from small to large.  The participant is required to move thestack of disks from a pre-determined starting position to a …

Tourette’s syndrome

A neurological disorder characterised by multiple involuntary motor tics mostly in the face and neck muscles (e.g., eye blinking, nose twitching, shoulder shrugs), but also in other body parts (e.g., arm thrusting, leg kicks, jumping movements)  and a least one vocal tic (e.g., barking, grunting, sniffing noises). Reputedly, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) had the syndrome …

Torres Straits expedition

An expedition launched in 1895 by anthropologists and psychologists from Cambridge University to the coast of South Eastern New Guinea. The expedition was one of the first attempts to scientifically document the psychological properties of ‚aaprimitive‚aa peoples, and it is recognised as having being formative in the development of anthropology and psychology . See Anthropology, …

Torque

Another term for the moment of force.  The SI unit for a torque is the newton meter (Nm).  While it can be expressed as a joule (the unit for energy), a torque is not energy because energy is a scalar quantity while torque is a vector.  See Balance scale task, Biomechanics, Center of gravity, Dynamics, …

TORCH

An acronym for Toxoplasmosis, Other infections, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus infection, and Herpes simplex. The TORCH syndrome is a group of mostly viral infections seen in neonates that have crossed the placental barrier with similar clinical manifestations, although signs may vary in degree and time of appearance. They can cause abnormalities in the brains of children, with …

Topographical representation

A characteristic feature of the arrangement of sensory and motor processing regions in the central nervous system.  Neighboring elements in the sensory surface or muscles are represented by physically neighbouring elements in the processing region . See Representation (mental)

Toddlers

Children aged from around 1 to 2 years of age, who are able to walk, but who are not yet usually in nursery school or kindergarten.  See Embryo, Fetus, Infancy/infant, Kindergarten, Nursery school, Newborn