Word
stimuli
Phoneticsstim·uli
US/ˈstɪmjəˌɫaɪ/
UK/stˈɪmjʊlˌaɪ/
Definition
n. things that cause a reaction or a change in a person, animal, or plant. You might feel a physical reaction to light or sound, or a mental reaction to a new idea.
n. plural form of 'stimulus'; refers to events or substances that evoke a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue. Often describes external factors that trigger psychological or physiological responses.
Examples
“Bright lights are strong stimuli for the eyes.”
“Newborn babies respond to various environmental stimuli, such as the sound of a voice or the touch of a hand.”
“The experiment measured how the subjects' neural pathways adapted to repeated visual stimuli over a period of several weeks, revealing significant plasticity in the primary visual cortex.”
Examples
simple
“Bright lights are strong stimuli for the eyes.”
contextual
“Newborn babies respond to various environmental stimuli, such as the sound of a voice or the touch of a hand.”
complex
“The experiment measured how the subjects' neural pathways adapted to repeated visual stimuli over a period of several weeks, revealing significant plasticity in the primary visual cortex.”
Usage
The plural form of 'stimulus'. In scientific contexts, it is treated as a plural noun and takes a plural verb.
Pitfall
The stimuli was very loud.
The stimuli were very loud.
Stimuli is the plural form of stimulus; it requires a plural verb.
Real-World Examples
“In recent years, researchers have developed several gene switches that enable the remote control of gene expression in living organisms using stimuli such as drugs, light, heat, ultrasound and electrical signals.” “Each dog was randomly shown a series of human faces as stimuli, with either neutral or happy expressions, for seven seconds while in the MRI machine.” Scan code
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