imprinting

[im′print·iŋ]

(psychology)

The very rapid development of a response or learning pattern to a stimulus at an early and usually critical period of development; particularly characteristic of some species of birds.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Imprinting

in ethology (the science of animal behavior), a specific form of learning in animals; the fixation in the animal’s memory of the distinctive features of objects at which instinctive behavioral actions are directed. Such objects are the parents (simultaneously serving as bearers of the characteristic traits of the species), siblings (offspring of the same litter), future sexual partners (male or female), food (including prey), and natural enemies (the external appearance of the enemy is imprinted in conjunction with the warning cries of the parents), as well as, possibly, the characteristic traits of the usual place of habitation (birth). The best studied and most noticeable form of imprinting is the following response of newly hatched birds or mammal offspring, whereby they follow their parents or one another. The fixation in imprinting of the distinctive features of objects usually occurs in the early stages of life, most often soon after birth, and is possible only during a definite, limited period—the “sensitive” or “critical” period. As a rule, the result of imprinting cannot be changed in the future (the “irreversibility” of the results of imprinting).

The term “imprinting” in traditional psychology is used in the sense of the fixation of certain information in the memory.

REFERENCES

Slonim, A. D. Osnovy obshchei ekologicheskoi fiziologii mlekopitaiushchikh. Moscow-Leningrad, 1961.
Tinbergen, N. Povedenie zhivotnykh. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from English.)
Lorenz, K. Über tierisches und menschliches Verhalten, vols. 1–2. Munich, 1965.
Sluckin, W. Imprinting and Early Learning. Chicago, 1965.

K. E. FABRI

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References in periodicals archive

Sexual imprinting does not completely eliminate gene flow between populations subjected to regular migratory events and hence cannot by itself result in speciation.

On the evolutionary consequences of sexual imprinting

Starting as a small backyard platemaking business in 1979, Imprinting Systems has demonstrated continuous growth, now currently running three Mark Andy flexo presses plus the Digital One inline digital printing and converting solution.

IMPRINTING SYSTEMS ADDS MARK ANDY DIGITAL ONE

The substrates (L-Phe or D-Phe used as template during the synthesis of membrane) after removal left imprinting cavities and channels (corresponding to the size and shape of L-Phe or D-Phe).

Effect of Template on Chiral Separation of Phenylalanine using Molecularly Imprinted Membrane in Aqueous Medium

To gauge the effect off the loss of imprinting control on the maintenance of the quiescent hematopoietic stem cell pool, Venkatraman analyzed the numbers of quiescent, active and differentiated hematopoietic stem cells in mouse bone marrow.

Genomic imprinting maintains reserve pool of blood-forming stem cells

That method sidestepped the problem of genomic imprinting but presents ethical and practical hurdles if this technology were to ever be considered for humans.

Mouse Pups With Same-Sex Parents Bred Using Stem Cells, Gene Editing

Powell, "Fluorescent functional recognition sites through molecular imprinting. A polymer-based fluorescent chemosensor for aqueous cAMP," Analytical Chemistry, vol.

Ion-Imprinted Polymer-Based Receptors for Sensitive and Selective Detection of Mercury Ions in Aqueous Environment

The most common method for providing the MIPs in order to SPE plans utilizes non-covalent imprinting which comforts quickly adsorption and deliverance of analyte [18, 22, 26, 31].

Solid Phase Extraction and Determination of Methyldopa in Pharmaceutical Samples Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Grafted Carbon Nanotubes

Gagne6 in his instructional planning steps calls for gaining the attention of the learner; this signals the start of the cognitive imprinting process.

Making lectures memorable: A cognitive perspective

Moreover, genomic imprinting has brought into focus a new dimension to the model of mammalian evolution through the identification of two Pegs, Peg10 and Peg11/Rtl1, which play an essential role in mammalian development via the formation and maintenance of a mammalian-specific placenta, respectively, because these two genes are mammalian-specific genes derived from an LTR-retrotransposon.

Mammalian-specific genomic functions: newly acquired traits generated by genomic imprinting and LTR retrotransposon-derived genes in mammals

It is not known whether there is specific machinery for XIST repression or whether there is only cell selection against XIST-expressing cells; however, the control of XIST expression is more important for cell survival than the control of genomic imprinting. Nonetheless, our data indicate that DNMT3A might be responsible for XIST silencing in DKO cells, since DNA methylation levels are increased at the XIST locus in these cells, despite the absence of any other known active DNA methyltransferase.

Stability of XIST repression in relation to genomic imprinting following global genome demethylation in a human cell line

Exceptions to this generalization were found in fibroadenoma, it required less pressure for imprinting and also the imprints were more cellular than other benign imprints.

Study of imprint smears of various lesions with histological correlation

Molecular imprinting is a tool for synthesizing tailor-designed molecular recognition sites in polymers structured at micrometer and nanometer scales.

Molecular imprinting; principles and applications of micro-and nanostructured polymers