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Psychological Phenomena

Sensitization

Learning and Conditioning Phenomena

Sensitization is a psychological phenomenon in which repeated exposure to a stimulus produces a progressive enhancement of a response that is not specific to the original stimulus. It has been studied using the reflexes of animals such as Aplysia, the sea slug, to better understand its underlying neural mechanisms, and research on the phenomenon spans effects such as drug sensitization and cross-sensitization, in which a response is enhanced across a whole class of stimuli rather than only the one repeated stimulus itself; sensitization has also been implicated in the pathology of various health disorders.

Facts
Core Claim
Sensitization is a psychological phenomenon whereby repeated exposure to a stimulus results in the progressive enhancement of a response that is not specific to the original stimulus. 1
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Behavioral Phenomenon 1
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Sensitization
  • Lead, sentence 1
    repeated exposure to a stimulus results in the progressive enhancement of a response that is not specific to the original stimulus
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    Sensitization is a psychological phenomenon whereby repeated exposure to a stimulus results in the progressive enhancement of a response that is not specific to the original stimulus.
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