ausreizender

Ausreizender is a German adjective used in scientific contexts to describe a stimulus that elicits a reaction. The standard collocation is ausreizender Reiz, which denotes an excitatory or provoking stimulus in fields such as physiology, neuroscience, and psychology. In English, the closest equivalent is excitatory stimulus.

Etymology and grammar: The prefix aus- conveys an external or outward sense, while reizend derives from reiz- (to stimulate, excite) with the present participle ending -end, yielding ausreizender meaning “the one that stimulates.” Grammatically, ausreizender is typically used as an attributive adjective placed before the noun it modifies. It is not commonly used as a standalone noun; when a noun form is needed, one may encounter a rare nominalized form such as Ausreizender, though this is uncommon in modern writing.

Usage: In contemporary German scientific literature, more common terms for the same idea are erregender Reiz or einfach erregend, which align with the standard concept of excitation. Ausreizender Reiz appears mainly in older texts or in descriptive passages. The concept is often contrasted with hemmender Reiz, meaning an inhibitory stimulus, to describe net neural or physiological responses.

Examples: Der ausreizende Reiz führt zu einer Aktivierung der Neuronen. In der Praxis werden häufig excitatorische und inhibitorische Reize unterschieden, um die Reaktionsweise des Systems zu beschreiben.

See also: Reiz, Erregung, neuronale Reizweiterleitung, synaptische Übertragung.