| discrimination learning | Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| 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) |
| Abbe theory of image formation | <optics, physics> Abbe's theory is based on the fact that a non-self-luminous particle, which is illuminated by an extraneous source, gives rise to diffracted light rays, in addition to the dioptric pencil. He stated that to form a good microscopical image as many of the diffracted rays as possible should be intercepted by the objective. With closely ruled lines, his theory is easily demonstrated by observing the back lens of the objective, for here the diffracted rays can be observed directly if the aperture diaphragm is closed. It can be shown that, when the illumination is arranged to exclude the diffracted images, resolution is lost. (11 Mar 1998) |
| adsorption theory of narcosis | That a drug becomes concentrated at the surface of the cell as a result of adsorption, and thus alters permeability and metabolism. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Altmann's theory | A theory that protoplasm consists of granular particles (called bioblasts) that are clustered and enclosed in indifferent matter. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arrhenius-Madsen theory | That the reaction of an antigen with its antibody is a reversible reaction, the equilibrium being determined according to the law of mass action by the concentrations of the reacting substances. (05 Mar 2000) |
| atomic theory | That chemical compounds are formed by the union of atoms in certain definite proportions; in its modern form, first advanced in 1803 by John Dalton. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Baeyer's theory | That carbon bonds are set at fixed angles (109 |
| balance theory | In social psychology, a theory which assumes that steady and unsteady states can be specified for cognitive units, such as an individual and his or her attitudes or acts, and that such units tend to seek steady states (balance); e.g., balance exists when both parts of a unit are evaluated the same, but disequilibrium arises when both parts are not evaluated the same, which causes either cognitive reevaluation of the parts or their segregation. See: cognitive dissonance theory, consistency principle. (05 Mar 2000) |