acquired reflex

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Word: Acquired Reflex

Definition: An "acquired reflex" is a response or action that a person learns to do automatically when they experience a specific stimulus or situation. It is not something we are born knowing how to do but something we learn through experience.

Explanation:

• Response: This means how you react to something.
• Stimulus: This is something that causes you to react. For example, if you touch something hot, the heat is the stimulus that causes you to pull your hand away.

Usage Instructions:

• When you talk about an "acquired reflex," you are usually referring to a behavior that you have learned over time, often through practice or conditioning.
• You might use this term in contexts related to psychology, behavior, or learning.

Example:

• "After practicing for many hours, the musician developed an acquired reflex that allowed her to play the piano pieces quickly and accurately as soon as she saw the notes."

Advanced Usage:

• In psychology, acquired reflexes can be linked to classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a response through repeated pairing with a stimulus that naturally triggers that response. For example, if a bell rings every time food is presented to a dog, the dog will eventually salivate at the sound of the bell alone, even without food.

Word Variants:

• Acquisition (noun): The process of gaining or learning something.
• Acquired (adjective): Something that has been gained or learned over time.

Different Meanings:

• While "acquired reflex" specifically refers to learned responses, the word "reflex" alone can refer to automatic responses that we are born with (like blinking when something comes close to our eyes).

Synonyms:

• Learned response
• Conditioned response

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:

• There aren’t specific idioms or phrasal verbs directly related to "acquired reflex," but related ideas might include:
  • "Get the hang of it": This phrase means to learn how to do something well after practice, which relates to the concept of acquired reflexes.
  • "Fall into a routine": This means to start doing something regularly, often without thinking about it, similar to how acquired reflexes work.

Summary:

In summary, an "acquired reflex" is a learned reaction to a specific stimulus that becomes automatic over time.

Academic

Noun

1. an acquired response that is under the control of (conditional on the occurrence of) a stimulus

Synonyms

• conditional reflex
• conditioned reflex
• conditional reaction
• conditioned reaction
• conditional response
• conditioned response