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Glossary

A structured index of terms that appear across the neurotech landscape and in Neurofounders' reporting.​

600+ Terms  ●  Reviewed often  ●  Growing monthly

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Algorithms & Models
Clinical Concepts
Data & Infrastructure
Emerging Tech
Hardware
Protocols & Paradigms
Safety & Ethics
Signals & Biomarkers
Brain-Computer Interface
Cognitive and Mental Health
General
Neuroimaging
Neuromodulation
Tools and Infrastructure
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Implantable pulse generator

A device delivering controlled stimulation pulses, sometimes integrated with sensing.
Brain-Computer Interface

Independent component analysis (ICA)

Data-driven technique that decomposes neuroimaging data into statistically independent spatial or temporal components.
Neuroimaging

Indication (neuromodulation)

A medical condition for which a specific neuromodulation therapy is approved or being evaluated.
Neuromodulation

Informed consent

Process ensuring participants understand study risks and procedures.
General

Inhibitory control

The ability to suppress automatic or prepotent responses in favor of goal-directed ones.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Input impedance

Effective resistance of an amplifier input
Tools and Infrastructure

Insomnia

Persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or obtaining restorative sleep despite adequate opportunity.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Intention detection

Identifying when a user intends to issue a command vs. resting.
Brain-Computer Interface

Inter-rater reliability

Degree of agreement between different annotators labeling the same data.
Tools and Infrastructure

Intermittent TBS (iTBS)

TBS pattern associated with net excitatory effects on cortical excitability.
Neuromodulation

Interoception

Perception of internal bodily sensations such as heartbeat, breathing, or hunger.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Interoperability

Ability of systems to exchange and use information seamlessly.
General

Intracortical microelectrode array

A grid of tiny electrodes inserted into cortex to capture spikes and LFPs.
Brain-Computer Interface

Intracranial EEG (iEEG)

Recording of brain activity using electrodes placed directly on or within the brain, including ECoG and depth recordings.
Neuroimaging

Intraoperative neuromonitoring

Monitoring neural signals during surgery to guide electrode placement or avoid damage.
Neuromodulation

Invasive BCI

BCIs using implanted electrodes for high-resolution neural recording.
Brain-Computer Interface

Inversion recovery (IR)

MRI method using an inversion pulse to emphasize particular tissue contrasts.
Neuroimaging

Investigational Device Exemption (IDE)

An FDA regulatory authorization that allows a medical device to be used in a clinical study to collect safety and effectiveness data before marketing approval.
General

Just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI)

Digital intervention that delivers support at the right time and context based on real-time data.
Cognitive and Mental Health

K-space

The frequency-domain representation of MRI raw data before image reconstruction.
Neuroimaging

Kalman filter decoder

A state-space decoding approach that estimates continuous variables (e.g., cursor position) from noisy neural signals over time.
Brain-Computer Interface

Kinematic decoding

Translating neural activity into estimates of limb position, velocity, or force.
Brain-Computer Interface

Lab Streaming Layer (LSL)

Open framework for streaming, synchronizing, and recording time series data from multiple devices.
Tools and Infrastructure

Label expansion

The process of extending regulatory approval for a neuromodulation device to additional conditions.
Neuromodulation

Laboratory information management system (LIMS)

Software that tracks samples, workflows, and results in lab environments.
Tools and Infrastructure

Lakehouse

Architecture combining aspects of data lakes and data warehouses with a unified storage and compute layer.
Tools and Infrastructure

Latency (BCI systems)

The delay between neural signal generation and device response, influencing usability.
Brain-Computer Interface

Latency budget

Maximum allowable system delay for real-time performance.
General

Latent neural state

Underlying dynamic state inferred from neural recordings, used in decoding and closed-loop control.
Brain-Computer Interface

Lead migration

Unintended movement of an implanted stimulation lead, potentially reducing efficacy.
Neuromodulation

Lesion load

The total volume or extent of lesions within specified brain regions or tissue classes.
Neuroimaging

Limb interface

A hardware or software layer that maps neural activity to commands for prosthetic or robotic limbs.
Brain-Computer Interface

Local field potential (LFP)

Low-frequency electrical signals reflecting combined neuronal activity.
Brain-Computer Interface

Locked-in syndrome (LIS)

A state of near-total paralysis that makes assistive BCIs a key compensatory channel.
Brain-Computer Interface

Locus of control

Beliefs about whether outcomes are determined by personal actions or external forces.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Long-term depression (LTD)

A long-lasting decrease in synaptic strength, often contrasted with LTP.
Neuromodulation

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

A long-lasting increase in synaptic strength, considered a cellular model of learning and memory.
Neuromodulation

Longitudinal monitoring

Repeated measurements collected over long periods to track change.
General

Low-frequency stimulation

Stimulation at lower pulse rates (e.g., 1–5 Hz) often associated with facilitation or different plasticity effects.
Neuromodulation

Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU)

Focused ultrasound with intensities below tissue-damaging thresholds, used for reversible neuromodulation.
Neuromodulation

MLOps

Practices and tooling to manage the lifecycle of ML models from development to deployment and monitoring.
Tools and Infrastructure

MR angiography (MRA)

MRI technique for visualizing cerebral blood vessels using contrast or specialized sequences.
Neuroimaging

MR elastography (MRE)

MRI-based imaging method measuring tissue stiffness, useful for neurodegenerative and tumor assessment.
Neuroimaging

MR spectroscopy (MRS)

MRI-based method that measures concentrations of certain brain metabolites in localized regions.
Neuroimaging

Magnetic coil

The physical TMS coil that generates the magnetic field inducing currents in the brain.
Neuromodulation

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

A non-invasive imaging method that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to generate detailed brain anatomy.
Neuroimaging

Magnetocardiography (MCG)

Measurement of magnetic fields generated by cardiac electrical activity.
Tools and Infrastructure

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Non-invasive method that records magnetic fields generated by neuronal currents with high temporal resolution.
Neuroimaging

Maintenance stimulation

Ongoing or intermittent stimulation used to sustain gains after an acute treatment course.
Neuromodulation

Major depressive disorder (MDD)

A mood disorder characterized by persistent low mood, anhedonia, and functional impairment.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Market access strategy

Plan for reimbursement, pricing, and adoption of medical technologies.
General

Mean diffusivity (MD)

A DTI metric describing the overall magnitude of water diffusion, regardless of direction.
Neuroimaging

Measurement-based care

Clinical approach that systematically uses repeated outcome measures to guide treatment decisions.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Mental health

A person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing how they think, feel, and act.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Metacognition

Awareness and regulation of one’s own thinking processes.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Metadata schema

Standard structure describing contextual information about recordings, tasks, or samples.
Tools and Infrastructure

MicroLED stimulation

Optical neuromodulation using microscale light-emitting diodes in implantable arrays.
Neuromodulation

Microelectrode array (MEA)

Closely spaced electrodes used to record or stimulate neural activity.
Brain-Computer Interface

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

Measurable cognitive decline greater than expected for age, without full loss of functional independence.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Minimal clinically important difference (MCID)

The smallest change in an outcome measure that patients perceive as beneficial and that would justify a change in treatment.
General

Model drift monitor

System that tracks performance degradation and signals when a model needs retraining.
Tools and Infrastructure

Model governance

Framework ensuring models are versioned, validated, monitored, and deployed in line with ethical and regulatory standards.
General

Model interpretability

Ability to understand how an algorithm generates outputs.
General

Model registry

Centralized catalog where trained models are versioned, tagged, and promoted to production.
Tools and Infrastructure

Monophasic pulse

A stimulation pulse with current flowing in a single direction.
Neuromodulation

Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space

A widely used stereotactic reference space derived from averaged MRI templates.
Neuroimaging

Mood disorder

A group of conditions where persistent disturbances in mood are the primary issue (e.g., depression, bipolar disorder).
Cognitive and Mental Health

Mood instability

Rapid or unpredictable fluctuations in mood states.
Cognitive and Mental Health

Motion artifact

Noise caused by participant or electrode movement.
Neuroimaging

Motion capture system

Cameras or sensors that track body or limb movement, frequently synchronized with neural recordings.
Tools and Infrastructure

Motion correction

Adjusting images to account for head movement across time points.
Neuroimaging

Motion scrubbing

Removing or down-weighting motion-corrupted time points from fMRI data before analysis.
Neuroimaging

Motor imagery BCI

A BCI where users imagine movements to generate control-relevant neural changes.
Brain-Computer Interface

Motor threshold

The minimum TMS intensity that elicits a detectable muscle response, often used to individualize dosing.
Neuromodulation

Motor-evoked potential (MEP)

Muscle response recorded after motor cortex stimulation, used to quantify corticospinal excitability.
Neuromodulation

Mu rhythm

Sensorimotor alpha-range rhythm (∼8–13 Hz) over central electrodes that desynchronizes with real or imagined movement.
Neuroimaging

Multi-modal BCI

BCIs combining neural signals with other inputs such as EMG, eye tracking, or motion sensors.
Brain-Computer Interface

Multi-modal imaging

Combining multiple imaging modalities (e.g., MRI + PET or MEG + fMRI) to obtain complementary information.
Neuroimaging

Multi-unit activity

Combined spike activity from several neighboring neurons.
Brain-Computer Interface

Multimodal fusion

Integration of multiple data types (EEG + movement + voice).
General

Multiple comparison correction

Statistical methods used to control error rates when testing many voxels or regions.
Neuroimaging

Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA)

Neuroimaging approach that decodes information from distributed activation patterns rather than average signal in a region.
Neuroimaging

Mutual information

Measure of shared information between variables, used in feature selection and encoding models.
Tools and Infrastructure

Neural co-adaptation

The mutual adaptation of user strategies and decoding algorithms as control improves.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural coding

How information is represented in neural firing patterns.
General

Neural computing

Computing approaches inspired by biological neural networks, including both machine learning systems and biologically grounded computational models.
General

Neural data privacy

Rules and safeguards governing brain-derived data.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural decoding

Translating recorded neural activity into estimates of actions, intentions, or states.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural dust

Concepts of microscale, wireless neural sensors for minimally invasive interfacing.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural embeddings

Vector representations of neural signals learned by machine learning models.
Tools and Infrastructure

Neural encoding model

Models predicting neural responses to stimuli or actions.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural implant

An implanted device housing electrodes and electronics for long-term neural interfacing.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural interface

Any hardware and software stack that connects directly to the nervous system to read, write, or modulate neural activity.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural manifold

Low-dimensional representation capturing major patterns in population neural activity.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural plasticity

Brain’s ability to reorganize structure and function across time.
General

Neural replay detection

Identifying repeated neural activation sequences thought to reflect memory consolidation or planning.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural sensing module

Hardware that amplifies, filters, and digitizes neural signals for processing.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neural signal compression

Techniques for reducing bandwidth in implantable BCIs while preserving information.
Tools and Infrastructure

Neural synchrony

Coordinated activity across neurons or brain regions, sometimes used as a BCI feature.
Brain-Computer Interface

Neurodevelopmental disorder

Conditions arising in early development that affect cognition, behavior, or social functioning (e.g., ADHD, autism).
Cognitive and Mental Health

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