selective learning

learning to make only one of several possible responses or learning about one stimulus when several stimuli are available. A particular response or stimulus could have a selective advantage due to biological preparedness, previous experience, or salience in a given situation. See also Kamin effect; overshadowing.

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Psychology term of the day

February 28th 2025

common metric

a unit or scale of measurement that is applied to data from different sources. In a meta-analysis, for instance, the results from multiple studies may need to be placed on a common metric so that they may be meaningfully compared.