A phonological pattern of deletion of one or more elements in a consonant cluster as in ‘tick’ for ‘stick’. A feature used when children do yet have complete master mastery over the pronunciation of words. If it persists, it can become a speech difficulty in children. See Consonants, Final consonant devoicing, Phonological process, Phonology, Stopping
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Closed-loop and open-loop control
Terms originating in engineering and transferred to the study of motor control. Closed-loop control refers to control achieved by feedback such that the actual response conforms to the desired response (or set point) by means of correcting any difference between them. The feedback path, input to output and back to input, forms what is called …
Closed system
A system that is functionally isolated from its environment. As such, it does not exchange energy, information or matter with its surroundings and thus obeys the second law of thermodynamics or the law of entropy. Consequently, it will irreversibly deteriorate with time to a state of entropy or maximum disorder. See Cybernetics, Energy, Entropy, Information, …
Closed-class words
A grammatical class of words with limited membership, which have primarily grammatical meaning such as conjunctions (a word conjoining words or phrases or clauses or sentences whose usage increases at 5 years-of-age), demonstratives (a word indicating to which objects a sentence is referring to, with English having four: this, that, these and those), determiners (one …
Closed-ended interviewing
Interaction between a researcher/interviewer and a respondent in which the interviewer presents a prepared set of questions to each respondent in the same words and in the same order, and asks each respondent to select from a prepared set of possible responses. It can be contrasted with open-ended interviewing in which respondents are free to …
Clonus
A spasm in which contraction and relaxation of a muscle alternate in rapid succession, usually after a sudden passive stretch, and thus sometimes referred to myoclonus. It is observed as a sustained rhythmical tremor of around a joint (e.g., ankle, patella, wrist). Although it can be due to damage to peripheral nerves, most forms of …
Clinical neuropsychology
The application of neuropsychological knowledge to the assessment, diagnosis, management and rehabilitation of patients across the life span who have suffered illness or injury (especially to the brain) leading to neurocognitive dysfunctions. In doing so, information provided by other medical or healthcare providers is taken into account. See Cognitive neuroscience, Diagnosis (or diacrisis), Neuropsychology
Climbing fibers
Axons projecting from neurons in the inferior olivary nucleus in the medulla impinging multiple synapses directly on Purkinje cells in the cerebellum (up to 300 on each of the dendrites of these cells), and which contain the neurotransmitter aspartate. They wind among Purkinje cell dendrites, and have a powerful and specific input to the Purkinje …
Clicks
Sounds common in Khosian languages of South Africa that are produced by sudden release of a closure of a large area of the tongue against the palate. These languages are made up of three branches: the Khoisan languages of the San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoi, spoken in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Sandawe, found in Tanzania, …
Classical thermodynamics
A branch of physics that studies the processes involved in the reversible transformation of heat into mechanical work, of mechanical work into heat, or the flow of heat from a hotter to a colder body. It does so on a more macroscopical level than statistical mechanics. The first and second laws of thermodynamics aid in …