conditioning

(kŏn-dish′ŏn-ing)

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1. Improving the physical capability of a person by an exercise program.
2. In psychology, the use of a special and different stimulus in conjunction with a familiar one. After a sufficient period in which the two stimuli have been presented simultaneously, the special stimulus alone will cause the response that could originally be produced only by the familiar stimulus. Ivan Pavlov used dogs to demonstrate that the strange stimulus, ringing of a bell, could cause the animal to salivate if the test was done after a period of conditioning during which the bell and the familiar stimulus, food, were presented simultaneously. Also called classical conditioning.
3. The administration of chemotherapy in preparation for bone marrow transplantation. The purpose is to eliminate cancer cells from the marrow before donor cells are infused.
4. The treatment with heat and moisture of gases supplied to a patient through an endotracheal tube so that the gases more closely approximate those that might pass through the upper airways into the trachea and bronchi during spontaneous breathing.

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