Monday, July 21, 2008

Neurological or neurophysiological?

At the Oxford conference, I asked a question to Mark Onslow during the panel session. I asked how a behavioural treatment like Lidcombe could possibly be highly effective if as he agrees stuttering is driven by an underlying neurological problem.

Instead of answering the question well, he replied by saying that I did not understand terminology and that I probably mean "neurophysiological", and that there is a big difference.

Well, is there really a difference? I asked three people after the session, and no-one understood quite why one would be better than the other.

I looked up the words "neurological" and "neurophysiological".  In typical dictionary manner, I got the following very enlightening definitions: "of or relating to or used in or practicing neurology", and "of or concerned with neurophysiology"!! :-) OK, so I had to look up "neurology" and "neurophysiology".

Let's start with neurology: The medical science that deals with the nervous system and disorders affecting it.

And for neurophysiology, I got The branch of physiology that deals with the functions of the nervous system.


I cannot see any big difference. Both terms seems fine.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

FYI, here are some definitions from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (online - subscription required). I agree that I can't see a significant difference between neurology and neurophysiology.

neurology: the scientific study of the nervous system especially in respect to its structure, functions, and abnormalities

neurophysiology: physiology of the nervous system

physiology:
1 : a branch of biology that deals with the functions and activities of life or of living matter (as organs, tissues, or cells) and of the physical and chemical phenomena involved — compare anatomy
2 : the organic processes and phenomena of an organism or any of its parts or of a particular bodily process

Randzig said...

from what i understand Neurology deals more with brain/neural connections and Neurophysiology deals more with whats happening chemically/hormonally.