Imprinting (psychology)
KINDS OF LEARNING OCCURRING AT A PARTICULAR AGE OR A PARTICULAR LIFE STAGE
Behavioural imprinting; Behavioral imprinting; Sexual imprinting; Filial imprinting; Baby duck syndrome; Sexual conditioning; Baby Duck Syndrome; Imprint vulnerability; Sexual anthropophilia in animals
In psychology and ethology, imprinting is any kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behaviour. It was first used to describe situations in which an animal or person learns the characteristics of some stimulus, which is therefore said to be "imprinted" onto the subject.