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Imprinting

1. (Science: genetics) a remarkable genetic phenomenon. The gist is that gene Expression depends on the sex of the transmitting parent. There is, for example, increased severity of neurofibromatosis when the gene for it came from the mother.

2. (Science: psychology) a particular kind of learning characterised by occurrence in very early life, rapidity of acquisition, and relative insusceptibility to forgetting or extinction. Imprinted behaviour includes most (or all) behaviour commonly called instinctive, but imprinting is used purely descriptively. A form of learning critical to some species in early development where the actions or presence of others imprints behavioural traits of others, for instance, offspring. Geese at an early age look for a mother figure, basically anything that is alive and.