Imprinting (psychology)
Imprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior. It was first used to describe situations in which an animal or person learns the characteristics of some stimulus, which is therefore said to be "imprinted" onto the subject.
Imprinting is hypothesized to have a critical period.
Read more about Imprinting (psychology): Filial Imprinting, Sexual Imprinting, Westermarck Effect, Other Uses
Famous quotes containing the word imprinting:
“Once I pass’d through a populous city imprinting my brain for
future use with its shows, architecture, customs, traditions,
Yet now of all that city I remember only a woman I casually met
there who detain’d me for love of me,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)