| incidental learning | Learning without a direct attempt. Synonym: passive learning. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| insight learning | The grasp of the solution to a problem without the intervening series of the trial and error steps that are associated with most types of learning (e.g., a monkey housed behind the bars of a cage who, without proceeding through countless hours of futile attempts with one stick or the other, fits two sticks together to retrieve a banana outside the distance measured by either stick alone). (05 Mar 2000) |
| latent learning | That learning which is not evident to the observer at the time it occurs, but which is inferred from later performance in which learning is more rapid than would be expected without the earlier experience. (05 Mar 2000) |
| learning | 1. The acquisition of knowledge or skill; as, the learning of languages; the learning of telegraphy. 2. The knowledge or skill received by instruction or study; acquired knowledge or ideas in any branch of science or literature; erudition; literature; science; as, he is a man of great learning. Book learning. See Book. Synonym: Literature, erudition, lore, scholarship, science, letters. See Literature. Origin: AS. Leornung. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| learning disability | A disorder in one or more of the basic cognitive and psychological processes involved in understanding or using written or spoken language; may be manifested in age-related impairment in the ability to read, write, spell, speak, or perform mathematical calculations. (05 Mar 2000) |
| learning disorders | Impairment of learning ability due to emotional, environmental or physiological factors. (12 Dec 1998) |
| learning set | A readiness or predisposition to learn developed from previous learning experiences, as when an organism learns to solve each successive problem (of equal or increasing difficulty) in fewer trials. (05 Mar 2000) |
| learning theory | Any of several prominent theories designed to explain learning, especially those promulgated by Pavlov, Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull, Kohler, Spence, Miller, Skinner, and their modern followers. See: conditioning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| animal | 1. An organised living being endowed with sensation and the power of voluntary motion, and also characterised by taking its food into an internal cavity or stomach for digestion; by giving carbonic acid to the air and taking oxygen in the process of respiration; and by increasing in motive power or active aggressive force with progress to maturity. 2. One of the lower animals; a brute or beast, as distinguished from man; as, men and animals. Origin: L, fr. Anima breath, soul: cf. F. Animal. See Animate. 1. Of or relating to animals; as, animal functions. 2. Pertaining to the merely sentient part of a creature, as distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or spiritual part; as, the animal passions or appetites. 3. Consisting of the flesh of animals; as, animal food. Animal magnetism. See Magnetism and Mesmerism. Animal electricity, the electricity developed in some animals, as the electric eel, torpedo, etc. <physiology> Animal flower, the heat generated in the body of a living animal, by means of which the animal is kept at nearly a uniform temperature. Animal spirits. See Spirit. Animal kingdom, the whole class of beings endowed with animal life. It embraces several subkingdoms, and under these there are Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, Species, and sometimes intermediate groupings, all in regular subordination, but variously arranged by different writers. The following are the grand divisions, or subkingdoms, and the principal classes under them, generally recognised at the present time: - Vertebrata, including Mammalia or Mammals, Aves or Birds, Reptilia, Amphibia, Pisces or Fishes, Marsipobranchiata (Craniota); and Leptocardia (Acrania). Tunicata, including the Thaliacea, and Ascidioidea or Ascidians. Articulata or Annulosa, including Insecta, Myriapoda, Malacapoda, Arachnida, Pycnogonida, Merostomata, Crustacea (Arthropoda); and Annelida, Gehyrea (Anarthropoda). Helminthes or Vermes, including Rotifera, Chaetognatha, Nematoidea, Acanthocephala, Nemertina, Turbellaria, Trematoda, Cestoidea, Mesozea. Molluscoidea, including Brachiopoda and Bryozoa. Mollusca, including Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Pteropoda, Scaphopoda, Lamellibranchiata or Acephala. Echinodermata, including Holothurioidea, Echinoidea, Asterioidea, Ophiuroidea, and Crinoidea. Coelenterata, including Anthozoa or Polyps, Ctenophora, and Hydrozoa or Acalephs. Spongiozoa or Porifera, including the sponges. Protozoa, including Infusoria and Rhizopoda. For definitions, see these names in the Vocabulary. Origin: Cf. F. Animal. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| animal black | Charcoal produced by incomplete combustion of animal tissues, especially bone. Synonym: animal black, bone black, bone charcoal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| animal cell culture | <cell culture> Mammalian cells are fragile and harder to grow than other cell types, but their large-scale culturing is an economic boon because it allows for the production of proteins that are otherwise difficult or expensive or unethical to extract from living organisms. The cells are immobilised on a substrate and then perfused with culture medium, The cells are in a free suspension which is very gently mixed and aerated. (12 Nov 1997) |
| animal cell immobilisation | <cell culture> Animal cells are widely used in biotechnology to produce genetically engineered proteins. However, they are more fragile than bacterial cells, and immobilising the cell facilitates the fermentation process. Many animal cells stick down flat on a suitable surface, hugging it as they would hug other cells or connective matrices in the body. If grown on suitable plastic surfaces, on glass or many ceramics, these cells will stick to them. In this way, they are easier to grow. (14 Nov 1997) |
| animal charcoal | Charcoal produced by incomplete combustion of animal tissues, especially bone. Synonym: animal black, bone black, bone charcoal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| animal communication | Communication between animals involving the giving off by one individual of some chemical or physical signal, that, on being received by another, influences its behaviour. (12 Dec 1998) |
| animal dander | <immunology, zoology> The epidermis (skin) from an animal that can elicit an allergic response. (12 Nov 1997) |