word association

noun

1. stimulation of an associative pattern by a word.

word association

noun

1. an early method of psychoanalysis in which the patient thinks of the first word that comes into consciousness on hearing a given word. In this way it was claimed that aspects of the unconscious could be revealed before defence mechanisms intervene

Example Sentences

If I said, "Word association, Nicholas Sparks," what do you think people would say?

From Salon

I stood on one foot while tracking a swinging ball with my eyes, I did word association while walking backward, and I completed memory exercises.

From Slate

And each morning in between appointments, I diligently followed the routine she gave me, jogging at the target heart rate for 20 minutes, standing with my roommate in the kitchen doing word association and eye tracking.

From Slate

It also had a word association exercise, asking people to offer the first word or phrase that comes to mind at the mention of each man.

From Seattle Times

ORWELL: After several contract renewals with the publishers, Omni began offering a new system: the Total Word Association and Integration Neural Net, or TWAINN.

From Slate