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Related terms:
cue
discrimination learning
learning
memory
reversal learning
psychological transfer
verbal learning
visual learning
Mental Process
conditioning Audio
con·di·tion·ing [ kuhn-dish-uh-ning ]
Subclass of:
Learning
Definitions related to conditioning (psychology):
  • (conditioning) Generally refers to relative simple learning situations in which a stimulus initially incapable of evoking a certain response acquires the ability to do so by repeated pairing with another stimulus that does elicit the response.
    NCI
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • (conditioning) Process by which an organism can be made to respond to a previously neutral (conditioned) stimulus as it would to another (unconditioned) stimulus by pairing the two sitimuli; e.g., pairing a bell with food eventually will make a dog salivate when bell is heard.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • (conditioned response) A type of learning in which repeated exposure to something may affect a person's behavior when they encounter an unrelated object, sound, or smell that occurred at the same time as the initial exposure. For example, a patient who always feels sick after receiving chemotherapy in a clinic that smells a certain way may be conditioned to feel sick when smelling the same odor in a different place.
    NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • (conditioning, psychological) Simple form of learning involving the formation, strengthening, or weakening of an association between a stimulus and a response.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
  • Conditioning, in physiology, a behavioral process whereby a response becomes more frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement, with reinforcement typically being a stimulus or reward for a desired response. Early in the 20th century, through the study of...
    Encyclopedia Britannica
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2025
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This content should not be used in place of medically-reviewed decision support reference material or professional medical advice. Some terms may have alternate or updated definitions not reflected in this set. The definitions on this page should not be considered complete or up to date.

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