Maturation

Maturation is the process of becoming mature; the emergence of personal and behavioral characteristics through growth processes.

It can also refer to any of the following:

• Fetal development
• Developmental biology
• In petroleum geology, the maturation of a rock is a measure of its state in terms of hydrocarbon generation.
• Psychological development
• Physical maturation of any biological life form – see individual articles for maturation of different life forms.
• In research, a threat to internal validity in which subjects change during the course of the experiment or even between measurements and the researcher may not be able to determine if the cause of the discrepancy is due to time or the independent variable.
• The final stages of cellular differentiation of cells, tissues, or organs.
• The process of storing alcoholic beverages in wooden cylindrical containers intended to impart a change in flavour and colouring.

See also

• Maturity (disambiguation)