maternal memory

the long-term retention of memory for maternal behavior. Once a female animal has experienced a pregnancy and interaction with her offspring, she retains the memory of the requisite behaviors for their care. For example, a female rat that has already had pups will be quicker to display maternal behavior when placed with foster pups than will a female rat that has not experienced pregnancy and pup-rearing. See also maternal brain.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

hierarchically nested design

any research design that involves several levels of sampling, such that the entities on the lower levels of the design are nested or subsumed within higher order groups. For example, a hierarchically nested design for an educational study might involve students (A), who are nested within classrooms (B), which are nested within schools (C), which are further nested within school districts (D). Several statistical procedures (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis, hierarchical linear models) also incorporate a hierarchical aspect. Also called hierarchical design; nested design.