#associationism

• Associationism — A psychological and philosophical doctrine according to which mental life, higher cognitive processes, and human knowledge are entirely explained by the combination, fusion, and succession of simple mental elements (sensations, ideas, or images) through the laws of association. This movement, historically developed by British empiricists such as John Locke and David Hume, claims that the complex mechanisms of memory and thought derive from connections established on the basis of contiguity, similarity, or contrast.