Sudden strong desires or urges to act, often without careful thought or consideration. In neuroscience, refers to electrical signals transmitted through nerve fibers.
From Latin 'impulsus', past participle of 'impellere' meaning 'to push against' or 'drive forward'. The psychological sense of sudden urge developed in the 17th century, while the electrical/neural meaning emerged in the 19th century with advances in neuroscience.
The dual meaning of 'impulse' - both psychological urge and electrical signal - isn't coincidental. Our understanding of neural impulses helped explain the sudden, almost electrical nature of spontaneous desires, creating a beautiful convergence of metaphor and medical reality in language.
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