imprinting

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: im=print=ing

CIDE DICTIONARY

imprinting, n. 

 The learning of a behavioral pattern that occurs soon after birth or hatching in certain animals, in which a long-lasting response to an individual (such as a parent) or an object is rapidly acquired; it is particularly noted in the response of certain birds to the animal they first see after hatching, usually the parent, as in ducks who will follow the adult duck they first see.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

imprinting, n.
1 in senses of IMPRINT v.
2 Zool. the development in a young animal of a pattern of recognition and trust for its own species.