Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (505 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
Relatively permanent change in behavior that is the result of past experience or practice. The concept includes the acquisition of knowledge.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Phenomenography.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Mental Processes; Psychology, Educational
- Narrower topics
- Association; Conditioning, Psychological; Critical Period, Psychological; Cues; Discrimination Learning; Generalization, Psychological; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Helplessness, Learned; Imprinting, Psychological; Inhibition, Psychological; Memory; Neurolinguistic Programming; Overlearning; Practice, Psychological
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 480,526 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Learning” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 94,828 of them (19.7%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2010-2019 with 158,438 records.
Reviews account for 35,309 records (7.3%) and meta-analyses for 2,596. Randomized controlled trials number 18,090 (3.8%) as a share of all records on the topic.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 129,187 |
| 2000-2009 | 98,073 |
| 2010-2019 | 158,438 |
| 2020 onward | 94,828 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 35,309 | 7.3% |
| Meta-analyses | 2,596 | 0.5% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 18,090 | 3.8% |
Method: PubMed query "Learning"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in psychiatry and psychology
Research on mental health and behaviour relies on questionnaires, interviews and rating scales rather than physical measurements, so how a condition was defined and measured shapes every result. Many studies are observational or small, placebo responses can be large, and findings in one group or culture may not carry over to another. Nothing on this page is advice about diagnosis or treatment; anyone worried about their mental health should talk to a qualified clinician. Check how outcomes were measured, who took part and how long they were followed.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortical Contributions to Attentional Orienting and Response Cancellation in Action Stopping | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 3 | cc by PMID 42704230 · DOI · PMC13548964 |
| Developmental Scarcity Induces Sex Differences in Social Recognition and CA2 Perineuronal Nets | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 2 | cc by PMID 42692858 · DOI · PMC13592735 |
| Hippocampal mechanisms underlying the resolution of competition in memory and perception | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 1 | cc by PMID 42834075 · DOI · PMC13639053 |
Cortical Contributions to Attentional Orienting and Response Cancellation in Action Stopping [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Action cancellation involves the termination of planned or ongoing movement, likely initiated in the cortex by the pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG).
- Closing excerpt
- These findings advance understanding of some of the neurophysiological dynamics involved in action cancellation and highlight the utility of combining fNIRS with EMG in this domain.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (203 words)
Action cancellation involves the termination of planned or ongoing movement, likely initiated in the cortex by the pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). It is frequently examined using the stop-signal task; electromyography (EMG) studies have shown action cancellation (in stop trials) can involve the partial activation of the responding muscles, which does not result in an overt behavioral response. The neural correlates of these partial responses are not well understood. Here, we combined functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and EMG to examine the neural correlates of terminated actions (partial responses) in a response- and stimulus-selective stop signal task, controlling for attentional confounds by comparing neural activity in stop and ignore trials. fNIRS analyses revealed increased preSMA activity in successful stop compared to ignore trials, but no such differences in the IFG, consistent with postulations that the preSMA is involved uniquely in action cancellation, while the IFG responds generically to unexpected stimuli. Critically, preSMA activity was greater in trials without partial muscle activation, potentially due to proactive inhibitory processes pre-emptively suppressing motor output in these trials. These findings advance understanding of some of the neurophysiological dynamics involved in action cancellation and highlight the utility of combining fNIRS with EMG in this domain.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42704230 · DOI · PMC13548964
Developmental Scarcity Induces Sex Differences in Social Recognition and CA2 Perineuronal Nets [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Early-life adversity (ELA) has a lasting negative impact on social behavior in both humans and rodents.
- Closing excerpt
- Focal degradation of the extracellular matrix in the CA2 region restored social recognition function in adult males previously subjected to early stress, suggesting that the effects of developmental adversity may be improved by targeted intervention in adulthood.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (148 words)
Early-life adversity (ELA) has a lasting negative impact on social behavior in both humans and rodents. Sex differences exist in functional outcomes of postnatal stress, but underlying mechanisms remain incompletely explored. Using the limited bedding and nesting paradigm, a mouse model of developmental scarcity, we found sex differences in social behavior with adult males showing impaired social recognition and adult females showing intact social recognition with enhanced social novelty preference. Perineuronal nets (PNNs), specialized extracellular matrix structures, are known to inhibit developmental plasticity and are concentrated in the CA2 region of the hippocampus in adulthood. We found higher intensity of CA2 PNNs in adult males, but not adult females, after ELA. Focal degradation of the extracellular matrix in the CA2 region restored social recognition function in adult males previously subjected to early stress, suggesting that the effects of developmental adversity may be improved by targeted intervention in adulthood.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42692858 · DOI · PMC13592735
Hippocampal mechanisms underlying the resolution of competition in memory and perception [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Behaving adaptively requires selection of relevant memories and sensations and suppression of competing ones.
- Closing excerpt
- These results demonstrate a role for memory distinctiveness in shaping the precision of sensory representations, highlighting links between mechanisms that overcome competition in memory and perception.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (154 words)
Behaving adaptively requires selection of relevant memories and sensations and suppression of competing ones. We hypothesize that these mechanisms are linked, such that hippocampal computations that resolve competition in memory also shape the precision of sensory representations to guide selective attention. We leverage fMRI-based pattern similarity, receptive field modeling, and eye tracking to test this hypothesis in humans performing a memory-dependent visual search task. In the hippocampus, more distinct representations of competing memories are associated with the accuracy of memory-guided eye movements. In visual cortex, preparatory coding of remembered target locations precedes search successes, whereas preparatory coding of competing locations precedes search failures due to interference. These effects are linked: more distinct hippocampal memories are associated with lower competitor activation in visual cortex, yielding more precise preparatory representations. These results demonstrate a role for memory distinctiveness in shaping the precision of sensory representations, highlighting links between mechanisms that overcome competition in memory and perception.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42834075 · DOI · PMC13639053
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Physical Activity and Cognitive Decline Among Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis [4]
- Research article The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions [5]
- Research article Effectiveness of exercise for improving cognition, memory and executive function: a systematic umbrella review and meta-meta-analysis [6]
- Research article A meta-analysis of conditioned fear generalization in anxiety-related disorders [7]
- Research article Superiority of external attentional focus for motor performance and learning: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses [8]
- Research article Visual attentional orienting by eye gaze: A meta-analytic review of the gaze-cueing effect [9]
Full-text reviews on EvidenceLib
Open-access review articles about this topic, reproduced in full with authors, licence and references.
State of the Art of Machine Learning–Enabled Clinical Decision Support in Intensive Care Units: Literature Review
Na Hong, Chun Liu, Jianwei Gao et al. · JMIR Medical Informatics 2022 · CC BY 4.0
Association of Clinician Diagnostic Performance With Machine Learning–Based Decision Support Systems
Baptiste Vasey, Stephan Ursprung, Benjamin Beddoe et al. · JAMA Network Open 2021 · CC BY 4.0
Applications of Machine Learning in Human Microbiome Studies: A Review on Feature Selection, Biomarker Identification, Disease Prediction and Treatment
Laura Judith Marcos-Zambrano, Kanita Karaduzovic-Hadziabdic, Tatjana Loncar Turukalo et al. · Frontiers in Microbiology 2021 · CC BY 4.0
Clinical Text Data in Machine Learning: Systematic Review
Irena Spasic, Goran Nenadic, Mircea Focsa et al. · JMIR Medical Informatics 2020 · CC BY 4.0
Comparison of Multivariable Logistic Regression and Other Machine Learning Algorithms for Prognostic Prediction Studies in Pregnancy Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Herdiantri Sufriyana, Atina Husnayain, Ya-Lin Chen et al. · JMIR Medical Informatics 2020 · CC BY 4.0
References
- Kemp SA, Salomoni S, Bazin PL, Pash L, St George RJ, Hinder MR. Cortical Contributions to Attentional Orienting and Response Cancellation in Action Stopping. . 2026. PMID 42704230 · DOI · PMC13548964
- Waters RC, Gore IR, Brown CJ, Skweres-Gilmartin AL, Rathaur AB, Gould E. Developmental Scarcity Induces Sex Differences in Social Recognition and CA2 Perineuronal Nets. . 2026. PMID 42692858 · DOI · PMC13592735
- Favila SE, Aly M. Hippocampal mechanisms underlying the resolution of competition in memory and perception. . 2026. PMID 42834075 · DOI · PMC13639053
- Iso-Markku P, Aaltonen S, Kujala UM, Halme HL, Phipps D, Knittle K, et al.. Physical Activity and Cognitive Decline Among Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2024. PMID 38300618 · DOI · PMC10835510
- Cipriano C, Strambler MJ, Naples LH, Ha C, Kirk M, Wood M, et al.. The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. Child Dev. 2023. PMID 37448158 · DOI
- Singh B, Bennett H, Miatke A, Dumuid D, Curtis R, Ferguson T, et al.. Effectiveness of exercise for improving cognition, memory and executive function: a systematic umbrella review and meta-meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2025. PMID 40049759 · DOI · PMC12229068
- Cooper SE, van Dis EAM, Hagenaars MA, Krypotos AM, Nemeroff CB, Lissek S, et al.. A meta-analysis of conditioned fear generalization in anxiety-related disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2022. PMID 35501429 · DOI · PMC9283469
- Chua LK, Jimenez-Diaz J, Lewthwaite R, Kim T, Wulf G. Superiority of external attentional focus for motor performance and learning: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Psychol Bull. 2021. PMID 34843301 · DOI
- McKay KT, Grainger SA, Coundouris SP, Skorich DP, Phillips LH, Henry JD. Visual attentional orienting by eye gaze: A meta-analytic review of the gaze-cueing effect. Psychol Bull. 2021. PMID 35404635 · DOI
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-11-04; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-11-04.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.