Span, memory
The number of items, usually words or numbers, that a person can retain and recall. Memory span is a test of working memory (short-term memory). In a typical test of memory span, an examiner reads a list of random numbers aloud at about the rate of one number per second. At the end of a sequence, the person being tested is asked to recall the items, in order. The average memory span for normal adults is seven.
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- Spanish disease
Syphilis. Depending upon someone’s thoughts as to where the disease came from, syphilis was also known as the French, Italian, German and Polish disease.
- Spanish flu
A pandemic of influenza A (H1N1) in 1918-19 that caused the highest number of known flu deaths. More than 500,000 people died in the United States, and 20 million to 50 million people may have died worldwide. Many people died within the first few days after infection and others died of complications soon after. Nearly […]
- Spasm
A brief, automatic jerking movement. A muscle spasm can be quite painful, with the muscle clenching tightly. A spasm of the coronary artery can cause the pain of angina. Spasms in various types of tissue may be caused by stress, medication, and overexercise.
- Spasm, coronary artery
A sudden constriction of a coronary artery that deprives the heart muscle of blood and oxygen. This can cause a type of sudden chest pain referred to as variant angina or Prinzmetal angina. Coronary artery spasm can be triggered by emotional stress, medicines, street drugs (particularly cocaine), and exposure to extreme cold. Treatments include the […]
- Spasm, nictitating
Spasm of the eyelid with continuous winking. To nictitiate is to wink. “Nictitate” and the older verb “nictate” both come from the Latin word for winking, “nictare.”