brood parasitism

a practice in which a female bird lays its eggs in the nest of another species, leaving the other parents to rear its chicks. Both cowbirds and cuckoos display brood parasitism. The parasitic species may eject some of the eggs of the host species, and the young of the parasitic species often hatch earlier and beg more intensively than the surviving host brood, successfully competing for food against the foster parents’ own offspring.

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Psychology term of the day

January 13th 2025

discontinuity hypothesis

in Gestalt psychology, the viewpoint that emphasizes the role of sudden insight and perceptual reorganization in successful discrimination learning and problem solving. According to this view, a correct answer is only recognized when its relation to the issue as a whole is discovered. Also called discontinuity theory. Compare continuity hypothesis. See also aha experience; all-or-none learning; eureka task.