negative feedback
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Related to negative feedback: Negative feedback amplifier
neg·a·tive feed·back
that which occurs if the sign or sense of the returned signal results in reduced amplification.
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
negative feedback
A control entity in which part of the response to the stimulus, acting in opposition to it, is applied to the stimulus. In other words, in a system with an input and an output, a proportion of the output signal, which must be in opposite phase to the input signal, is carried back to join and modify the input signal, reducing the effect of distortional changes caused by the system. The feedback signal is usually much smaller than the input stimulus, but exerts a powerful stabilizing and linearizing effect on the whole system. Negative feedback, long used to improve the stability and quality of electronic circuits, is now known to be an important principle in a wide range of biological and physiological systems.Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005
negative feedback
See FEEDBACK MECHANISM.Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005