Refractory Period

The term "refractory period" may refer to:

  • Refractory period (physiology), the amount of time it takes for an excitable membrane to be ready for a second stimulus once it returns to its resting state following excitation in the areas of biology, physiology, and cardiology.
  • Refractory period (sexology), the recovery phase after orgasm during which it is physiologically impossible for an individual to have additional orgasms.
  • Psychological refractory period, the delay in response to the second of two closely spaced psychological stimuli.
  • The period of weeks or even months following a series of seizures during which seizures cannot be induced when referring to epilepsy, known as the Postictal state.

Famous quotes containing the word period:

    “Colonial system, public debts, heavy taxes, protection, commercial wars, etc., these offshoots of the period of manufacture swell to gigantic proportions during the period of infancy of large-scale industry. The birth of the latter is celebrated by a vast, Herod-like slaughter of the innocents.”
    —Karl Marx (1818–1883)