Animals, including humans, adjust their behavior according to the predictive relationships they detect in the environment. Conditioning is the broad term for learning processes in which responses become linked to stimuli or to the consequences of actions.

Classical conditioning pairs stimuli; operant conditioning links actions to rewards or punishments. Both forms allow organisms to anticipate important events and to repeat behaviors that prove beneficial. The neural substrates overlap partially yet also diverge: the amygdala and cerebellum figure prominently in classical conditioning, while dopamine circuits and the basal ganglia are central to operant learning.

Conditioning principles have been applied in education, behavioral therapy, and animal training. They also help explain maladaptive patterns such as addiction and anxiety. Laboratory studies of conditioning continue to reveal the synaptic and molecular rules that allow experience to modify neural circuits.

A well-timed reinforcer or a reliable predictive cue can reshape behavior with remarkable efficiency.