learning set

a phenomenon observed when a participant is given a succession of discrimination problems to learn, such as learning that one object contains a food reward and a different object does not. After a large number of such problems, the participant acquires a rule or mental set for solving them, and successive discriminations are learned faster. See learning to learn. [introduced in 1949 by Harry Harlow]

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Psychology term of the day

January 3rd 2025

syphilis

n. a contagious disease caused by infection with the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum. Syphilis is usually a sexually transmitted disease, but it can be transmitted through a break or cut in the skin or mucous membrane; it can also be transmitted by an infected pregnant woman to an unborn child. Untreated, syphilis progressively destroys body tissues, particularly those of the heart and nervous system. See also cerebral syphilis; general paresis.