The term imprint refers to a way of acquiring learning essential for the survival of a species. It is a phenomenon in which psychic, biological and social processes converge.
Although it is a concept that has emerged through biological studies, it has been significantly adapted to psychology and has provided different ways of understanding human development. Below we review what imprinting learning is about, what its antecedents are and what applications it currently has in psychology.
The word “imprint” can mean different things. It generally refers to a mark, footprint or reproduction of images on a relief. If we take from psychology and biology, the term “imprinting” is used to describe learning fixed in a specific period of development in which a human being or an animal has greater sensitivity to certain stimuli.
In other words, an imprint is a learning that we have acquired through the recognition of a certain stimulus, at a certain stage of development. The stimulus toward which our sensitivity is directed generally depends on the survival needs of the species.
For example, most imprinting involves learning to recognize parents or potential sexual partners. The study of this type of learning has developed significantly in ethology (the branch of biology that studies animal behavior in their own habitat), especially has been observed in the behavior of birds.
Background: Konrad Lorenz and the goose family
The pioneer in this type of study was the American doctor and zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), considered one of the fathers of ethology. Lorenz studied the behavior of geese, and his knowledge has been applied to reproduce animal habitats where it has been achieved that the youngest acquire survival skills even if they are bred in captivity.
In fact, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 for having described imprinting, and it was given to him because the judges considered that his studies could contribute significant knowledge to psychiatry. That is to say, since the second half of the last century, imprinting has also developed in the study of human behavior.
Types of imprinting in the study of behavior
In both ethology and psychology, imprinting can occur in different ways and according to the characteristics of the species itself. However, in general terms, Two types of imprint are recognized basic and necessary for the survival of any species: the filial imprint and the sexual imprint.
1. Filial imprint
The concept of imprinting has been frequently applied in psychology’s attachment theory, which has been significantly related to filial relationships and how these are basic for survival.
The latter is known as a “filial imprint”, and it is an innate mechanism that It is activated when a young animal recognizes the characteristics of its parents specifically the mother, who is generally the first being observed at birth.
Filial imprinting has been observed in both birds and reptiles, and later in other species. From this it has been suggested that the recognition and monitoring of parents at an early age makes it possible that the young move away and protect themselves from predators. It also facilitates the learning necessary to obtain the food, water and heat that parents initially provide.
For this, it is necessary to consider how the senses are structured and how they connect with cognitive processes. In this sense, neuroscience and cognitive sciences have had a particular interest in the study of imprinting.
For example, it has been used extensively to explain the phenomenon of memory through visual impressions. Many theories of memory suggest that any experience or event strengthens and shapes particular pathways in the brain, which may correspond with much of imprinting theory.
2. Sexual imprint
It is the process through which an animal learns to recognize the characteristics of a desirable sexual partner. One of its effects is, for example, the tendency of living beings to relate to beings of the species in which they were raised ; those that have characteristics similar to those recognized by the filial imprint.
In the case of human beings, for example, the inverse effect of sexual imprinting has been studied when coexistence occurs in the same domestic space. It is one of the ways to explain why it often happens that siblings who have grown up together do not develop sexual attraction to each other; However, if they are raised separately, this may occur more easily.
This last effect is known as the Westermarck Effect, after the anthropologist who developed it (Edvard Westermarck), and has been useful to analyze how endogamy has been suppressed between different human societies.
