Malingering - To pretend inability so as to avoid duty or work. [Click Here To Return To List]

Manpower Development - Cooperative process in which agencies in the community strive to assure the availability of an adequate present and future supply of qualified personnel to work in programs providing services to persons with disabilities. [Click Here To Return To List]

Medicaid - See Terms and Definitions Related to Insurance. [Click Here To Return To List]

Medicare - See Terms and Definitions Related to Insurance. [Click Here To Return To List]

Medically Stable - Reaching a point in medical treatment where life-threatening injuries and disease have been brought under control. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory - The process of organizing and storing representations of events and recalling these representations to consciousness at a later time. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Audio-Visual - Auditory memory is the ability to recall a series of numbers, lists of words, sentences, or paragraphs presented orally. Visual memory requires input of information through visuo-perceptual channels. It refers to the ability to recall text, geometric figures, maps and photographs. A brain-injured survivor with impaired visual memory may have to refer to a road map numerous times to reach a nearby destination. A brain-injured inpatient may need frequent assistance from staff to locate his room A patient with impaired auditory memory will likely require frequent reminders of orally presented task instructions from staff. Notably, information may be encoded in memory using words or visual images independent of the mode of presentation. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Delayed - Recall of information after a delay, often with other information presented to prevent active rehearsal. There is no particular specification of the required time interval; typically it is ten minutes or more. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory Episodic - Memory for ongoing events in a person's life. More easily impaired than semantic memory, perhaps because rehearsal or repetition tends to be minimal. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Fund of Information - A type of remote memory as well as an estimate of the amount of information an individual retains about past experiences. The information can include, for example, knowledge regarding current events, politics, and book learning. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Immediate - The ability to recall numbers, pictures, or words immediately following presentation. Patients with immediate memory problems have difficulty learning new tasks because they cannot remember instructions. Relies upon concentration and attention. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory/Learning - Change in person's understanding or behavior due to experience or practice. Often thought of as acquisition of new information. For example, a person who learns quickly will likely remember an entire set of instructions after hearing them a single time. A patient with severely impaired learning ability will show little gain in recall after numerous repetitions. Learning and memory are interdependent. If immediate memory is poor, learning will be poor because only a portion of the information will be available for rehearsal/repetition. It is important to note that patients may have intact learning ability, but poor delayed memory. For example, a brain-injured patient may learn a set of instructions after several repetitions, but forget them the next day. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Long Term - In neuropsychological testing, this refers to recall thirty minutes or longer after presentation. Requires storage and retrieval of information which exceeds the limit of short term memory. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Recall - Ability to retrieve information without renewed exposure to the stimulus. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Recognition - Ability to retrieve information when a stimulus cue is presented. Free recall of the information is often deficient if cues must be provided. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Remote - Information an individual correctly recalls from the past, stored before the onset of brain injury. There is no specific requirement for the amount of elapsed time, but it is typically more than six months to a year. Preserved information from delayed memory becomes part of remote memory. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Semantic - Memory for facts, usually learned through repetition. [Click Here To Return To List]

Memory, Short Term - Primary or 'working' memory; its contents are in conscious awareness. A limited capacity system that holds up to seven chunks of information over periods of 30 seconds to several minutes, depending upon the person's attention to task. [Click Here To Return To List]

Mental Competence - The quality or state of being competent; having adequate mental abilities; legally qualified or adequate to manage one's personal affairs. An individual found by a court to be mentally incompetent has a guardian appointed to make personal and/or economic decisions on their behalf. [Click Here To Return To List]

Mental Disability - All of the recognized forms of mental illness, severe emotional disorders, or mental retardation. Terms such as neurotic, psychotic, and schizophrenic should be reserved for technical medical writing only. [Click Here To Return To List]

Mental Illness - A condition where there is loss of social and/or vocational skills due to impaired thought processes or emotional distress. Terms such as "mentally deranged", "crazy", "deviant" are not used. [Click Here To Return To List]

Metacognition - Insight into accurately judging one's own strengths and limitations, particularly with regard to cognitive skills. [Click Here To Return To List]

Microcomputer - A small computer; may be used to present information and stimuli to a patient as part of a cognitive rehabilitation program. [Click Here To Return To List]

Mobility - Ability of an individual to move within, and interact with, the environment, usually involving utilization of public and/or private transportation, wheelchairs or ambulation. [Click Here To Return To List]

Money Management - Ability to distinguish the different denominations of money, count money, make change, budget. [Click Here To Return To List]

Monitor, Intensive Care - A TV-like screen with a continuous display of different wave forms representing different pressures and activities in the body such as blood pressure, intracranial pressure, and EKG. It may also show a corresponding number value for them (digital readout). [Click Here To Return To List]

Monoplegia - Paralysis of one arm or one leg. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motivation - Requires initiative and refers to the extent to which an individual desires to reach a goal and demonstrates actual follow-through. A greater level of motivation is required for completion of difficult tasks. A brain-injured person with reduced motivation may need frequent cueing to finish dressing even though being able to verbalize the complete procedure. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motor - Pertaining to movement. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motor Control - Regulation of the timing and amount of contraction of muscles of the body to produce smooth and coordinated movement. The regulation is carried out by operation of the nervous system. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motor Control, Fine - Delicate, intricate movements as in writing or playing a piano. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motor Control, Gross - Large, strong movements as in chopping wood or walking. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motor Lag - A prolonged delay between stimulus and initiation of motor response. [Click Here To Return To List]

Motor Planning - Action formulated in the mind before attempting to perform. [Click Here To Return To List]

Movement Therapy - Using bodily expression, dance and exercise to facilitate movement, self expression and self esteem. [Click Here To Return To List]

Multidisciplinary - See Team. [Click Here To Return To List]

Muscle Tone - Used in clinical practice to describe the resistance of a muscle to being stretched. When the peripheral nerve to a muscle is severed, the muscle becomes flaccid (limp). When nerve fibers in the brain or spinal cord are damaged, the balance between facilitation and inhibition of muscle tone is disturbed. The tone of some muscles may become increased and they resist being stretched - a condition called hypertonicity or spasticity. [Click Here To Return To List]

Music Therapy - Use of music and singing to develop language and movement skills. [Click Here To Return To List]

Myelography - A medical test involving injection of dye into the spinal subarachnoid space so that an x-ray of the spinal cord can be taken. Used to detect spinal cord tumors, anatomical defects and disc problems. [Click Here To Return To List]