Hebbian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing the principle that connections between neurons strengthen when they fire together, named after the psychologist Donald Hebb
2. Relating to the theory that repeated simultaneous activity of brain cells reinforces the synapses linking them
3. Characterizing a model of learning in which synaptic links grow stronger through correlated firing of neurons

Etymology: Hebbian is named after Donald Olding Hebb, a Canadian psychologist whose name is the entire base of the word. In 1949 he published "The Organization of Behavior", in which he proposed that when one neuron repeatedly helps fire another, the connection between them strengthens. The idea became known as Hebb's rule, and "Hebbian" is the adjective used for learning and connections that work this way. The ending comes from the Latin suffix "-ianus", which passed into English as "-ian" and was used to form adjectives meaning "relating to" or "associated with" a person's name. English has many such words, such as Darwinian and Freudian. The Latin form itself was built up through earlier Italic stages from older suffixes, but English simply took the finished ending and attached it to Hebb's surname.