conditioned avoidance response

9.5

A learned action an animal or person does to avoid something bad after a warning signal

noun
/kənˈdɪʃənd əˈvɔɪdəns rɪˈspɑns/

Specialized

: respuesta de evitación condicionada

The rat demonstrated a conditioned avoidance response by jumping onto the platform when it heard the warning tone.

Examples

Researchers observed a conditioned avoidance response after repeated exposure to a signal predicting a mild electric shock.
In therapy, understanding a patient's conditioned avoidance response is crucial to addressing anxiety-driven behaviors.
The rat displayed a conditioned avoidance response to the sound.
Many animals learn a conditioned avoidance response to danger.
In research on animal behavior, scientists studied a conditioned avoidance response where the organism would flee upon hearing a warning signal associated with a painful stimulus.
Dogs often exhibit a conditioned avoidance response by hiding when they hear the sound of thunder, which they have learned is linked to fear.
During the experiment, the rabbit showed a clear conditioned avoidance response by darting away as soon as it detected the light indicating food was no longer available.

Synonyms

conditioned avoidance

vsconditioned avoidance response

Specialized

7.5

A learned action that lets a person or animal move away before something unpleasant happens

emphasizes learned actions triggered by repeated cue pairings predicting the unpleasant stimulus

Surface Forms

conditioned avoidance response singular

conditioned avoidance responses plural

Morphology

conditioned + avoidance + response

The phrase is a straightforward composition: 'conditioned' (learned), 'avoidance' (keeping away), and 'response' (reaction) combine to mean a learned reaction to avoid something. Although it is technical terminology in psychology, the meaning is directly derivable from the constituent words and standard noun phrase composition, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would likely understand it.

Etymology

Conditioned avoidance response comes from animal tests where a warning sound comes before a mild shock, so the animal learns to move away when it hears that sound. The word conditioned means 'learned', avoidance means 'staying away', and response means 'an action', so the phrase describes a learned action to avoid something unpleasant.