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Non-associative learning[edit]


Non-associative learning can be divided into habituation and sensitization.


Main article: Habituation



Main article: Sensitization

Sensitisation is an example of non-associative learning in which the progressive amplification of a response follows repeated administrations of a stimulus (Bell et al., 1995)[citation needed]. An everyday example of this mechanism is the repeated tonic stimulation of peripheral nerves that will occur if a person rubs his arm continuously. After a while, this stimulation will create a warm sensation that will eventually turn painful. The pain is the result of the progressively amplified synaptic response of the peripheral nerves warning the person that the stimulation is harmful.[clarification needed] Sensitisation is thought to underlie both adaptive as well as maladaptive learning processes in the organism.

Associative learning[edit]

Associative learning is the process by which an association between two stimuli or a behavior and a stimulus is learned. The two forms of associative learning are classical and operant conditioning. In the former a previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly presented together with a reflex eliciting stimuli until eventually the neutral stimulus will elicit a response on its own. In operant conditioning a certain behavior is either reinforced or punished which results in an altered probability that the behavior will happen again. Honeybees display associative learning through the proboscis extension reflex paradigm.[9]

Operant conditioning[edit]

Main article: Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from Pavlovian conditioning in that operant conditioning uses reinforcement/punishment to alter an action-outcome association. In contrast Pavlovian conditioning involves strengthening of the stimulus-outcome association.



Delayed discounting is the process of devaluing rewards based on the delay of time they are presented. This process is thought to be tied to impulsivity. Impulsivity is a core process for many behaviors (e.g., substance abuse, problematic gambling, OCD). Making decisions is an important part of everyday functioning. How we make those decisions is based on what we perceive to be the most valuable or worthwhile actions. This is determined by what we find to be the most reinforcing stimuli. So when teaching an individual a response, you need to find the most potent reinforcer for that person. This may be a larger reinforcer at a later time or a smaller immediate reinforcer.

Classical conditioning[edit]


Another influential person in the world of Classical Conditioning is John B. Watson. Watson's work was very influential and paved the way for B.F. Skinner's radical behaviorism. Watson's behaviorism (and philosophy of science) stood in direct contrast to Freud. Watson's view was that Freud's introspective method was too subjective, and that we should limit the study of human development to directly observable behaviors. In 1913, Watson published the article "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views," in which he argued that laboratory studies should serve psychology best as a science. Watson's most famous, and controversial, experiment, "Little Albert", where he demonstrated how psychologists can account for the learning of emotion through classical conditioning principles.

Imprinting is the special type of learning in which young animals, particularly birds, make a strong association with another individual or in some cases, an object. In 1935, the Austrian Zoologist Konrad Lorenz discovered that certain birds will follow and form a bond with a moving object shortly after hatching. Under normal conditions, the object is the mother. Thus imprinting has a survival value because it ensures that the young birds will not wander off away from their mother's protection. Under experimental conditions, however, the young hatchling will imprint on just about any moving object (even human beings), particularly if the object makes sounds.


Main article: Play (activity)


Play, as it pertains to humans as a form of learning is central to a child’s learning and development. Through play, children learn social skills such as sharing and collaboration. Children develop emotional skills such as learning to deal with the emotion of anger, through play activities. As a form of learning, play also facilitates the development of thinking and language skills in children.[11]

There are five types of play:

  2. role play occurs from 3 to 15 years of age
  4. construction play involves experimentation and building
  5. movement play aka physical play[11]

These five types of play are often intersecting. All types of play generate thinking and problem-solving skills in children. Children learn to think creatively when they learn through play.[12] Specific activities involved in each type of play change over time as humans progress through the lifespan. Play as a form of learning, can occur solitarily, or involve interacting with others.


Enculturation is the process by which a person learns the values and behaviors that are appropriate or necessary in the culture by which he or she is surrounded.[13] Parents, other adults, and peers shape the individual's understanding of these values.[13] If successful, enculturation results in competence in the language, values and rituals of the culture.[13] This is different from acculturation, where a person adopts the values and societal rules of a culture different from their native one.

Multiple examples of enculturation can be found cross-culturally. Collaborative practices in the Mazahua people have shown that participation in everyday interaction and later learning activities contributed to enculturation which is rooted in nonverbal social experience.[14] As the children participated in everyday activities, they learned the cultural significance of these interactions. The collaborative and helpful behaviors exhibited by Mexican and Mexican-heritage children is a cultural practice known as being “acomedido”.[15] Chillihuani girls in Peru described themselves as weaving constantly, following behavior shown by the other adults.[16]

Episodic learning[edit]

Episodic learning is a change in behavior that occurs as a result of an event.[17] For example, a fear of dogs that follows being bitten by a dog is episodic learning. Episodic learning is so named because events are recorded into episodic memory, which is one of the three forms of explicit learning and retrieval, along with perceptual memory and semantic memory.[18]

Multimedia learning[edit]


E-learning and augmented learning[edit]



Moore (1989)[20] purported that three core types of interaction are necessary for quality, effective online learning:

  • learner-learner (i.e. communication between and among peers with or without the teacher present),
  • learner-instructor (i.e. student teacher communication), and
  • learner-content (i.e. intellectually interacting with content that results in changes in learners’ understanding, perceptions, and cognitive structures).

In his theory of transactional distance, Moore (1993)[21] contented that structure and interaction or dialogue bridge the gap in understanding and communication that is created by geographical distances (known as transactional distance).

Rote learning[edit]

Main article: Rote learning


Meaningful learning[edit]


Informal learning[edit]

Main article: Informal learning


Formal learning[edit]

Main article: Education


Nonformal learning[edit]

Main article: Nonformal learning


Nonformal learning and combined approaches[edit]


In order to learn a skill, such as solving a Rubik's Cube quickly, several factors come into play at once:

  • Directions help one learn the patterns of solving a Rubik's Cube.
  • The Rubik's Cube's six colors help anchor solving it within the head.

Tangential learning[edit]

Tangential learning is the process by which people will self-educate if a topic is exposed to them in a context that they already enjoy. For example, after playing a music-based video game, some people may be motivated to learn how to play a real instrument, or after watching a TV show that references Faust and Lovecraft, some people may be inspired to read the original work.[24] Self-education can be improved with systematization. According to experts in natural learning, self-oriented learning training has proven to be an effective tool for assisting independent learners with the natural phases of learning.[25]

Dialogic learning[edit]

Main article: Dialogic learning

Dialogic learning is a type of learning based on dialogue.

Incidental learning[edit]

This type of learning is not planned by either the instructor or the student but occurs as a byproduct of another activity, which may be an experience, observation, self-reflection, interaction, unique event or common routine task. Learning which happens in addition to or apart from the instructor‘s plans and the student‘s expectations.

Incidental learning is an occurrence that is not generally accounted for using the traditional methods of instructional objectives and outcomes assessment. This type of learning occurs in part as a product of social interaction and active involvement in both online and onsite courses. Research implies that there are un-assessed aspects of onsite and online learning which challenge the equivalency of education between the two modalities. Both onsite and online learning have distinct advantages with traditional on-campus students experiencing higher degrees of incidental learning in three times as many areas as online students. Additional research is called for to investigate the implications of these findings both conceptually and pedagogically.[26]


Future school (1901 or 1910).

Benjamin Bloom has suggested three domains of learning:

  • Cognitive – To recall, calculate, discuss, analyze, problem solve, etc.
  • Psychomotor – To dance, swim, ski, dive, drive a car, ride a bike, etc.
  • Affective – To like something or someone, love, appreciate, fear, hate, worship, etc.

These domains are not mutually exclusive. For example, in learning to play chess, the person will have to learn the rules of the game (cognitive domain); but he also has to learn how to set up the chess pieces on the chessboard and also how to properly hold and move a chess piece (psychomotor). Furthermore, later in the game the person may even learn to love the game itself, value its applications in life, and appreciate its history (affective domain).[27]


Transfer of learning is the application of skill, knowledge or understanding to resolve a novel problem or situation. which happens when certain conditions are fulfilled. Research indicates that learning transfer is infrequent; most common when "... cued, primed, and guided..."[28] and has sought to clarify what it is, and how it might be promoted through instruction.

Over the history of its discourse, various hypotheses and definitions have been advanced. First, it is speculated that different types of transfer exist, including: near transfer, the application of skill to solve a novel problem in a similar context; and far transfer, the application of skill to solve novel problem presented in a different context.[29] Furthermore, Perkins and Salomon (1992) suggest that positive transfer in cases when learning supports novel problem solving, and negative transfer occurs when prior learning inhibits performance on highly correlated tasks, such as second or third-language learning.[30] Concepts of positive and negative transfer have a long history; researchers in the early 20th century described the possibility that "...habits or mental acts developed by a particular kind of training may inhibit rather than facilitate other mental activities".[31] Finally, Schwarz, Bransford and Sears (2005) have proposed that transferring knowledge into a situation may differ from transferring knowledge out to a situation as a means to reconcile findings that transfer may both be frequent and challenging to promote.[32]


Active learning[edit]

Main article: Active learning

Active learning occurs when a person takes control of their learning experience. Since understanding information is the key aspect of learning, it is important for learners to recognize what they understand and what they do not. By doing so, they can monitor their own mastery of subjects. Active learning encourages learners to have an internal dialogue in which they are verbalizing their understandings. This and other meta-cognitive strategies can be taught to a child over time. Studies within metacognition have proven the value in active learning, claiming that the learning is usually at a stronger level as a result.[34] In addition, learners have more incentive to learn when they have control over not only how they learn but also what they learn.[35]


There are two ways in which animals can gain knowledge. The first of these two ways is learning. This is when an animal gathers information about its surrounding environment and then proceeds to use this information. For example, if an animal eats something that hurts its stomach, it may learn not to eat this again. The second way that an animal can acquire knowledge is through innate knowledge. This knowledge is genetically inherited. The animal automatically knows it without any prior experience. An example of this is when a horse is born and can immediately walk. The horse has not learned this behavior; it simply knows how to do it.[36] In some scenarios, innate knowledge is more beneficial than learned knowledge. However, in other scenarios the opposite is true - animals must learn certain behaviors when it is disadvantageous to have a specific innate behavior. In these situations, learning evolves in the species.

Costs and benefits of learned and innate knowledge[edit]

In a changing environment, an animal must constantly be gaining new information in order to survive. However, in a stable environment this same individual need only to gather the information it needs once and rely on it for the duration of its life. Therefore, there are different scenarios in which learning or innate knowledge is better suited. Essentially, the cost of obtaining certain knowledge versus the benefit of already having it determined whether an animal evolved to learn in a given situation or whether it innately knew the information. If the cost of gaining the knowledge outweighed the benefit of having it, then the individual would not have evolved to learn in this scenario; instead, non-learning would evolve. However, if the benefit of having certain information outweighed the cost of obtaining it, then the animal would be far more likely to evolve to have to learn this information.[36]

Non-learning is more likely to evolve in two scenarios. If an environment is static and change does not or rarely occurs then learning would simply be unnecessary. Because there is no need for learning in this scenario – and because learning could prove to be disadvantageous due to the time it took to learn the information – non-learning evolves. However, if an environment were in a constant state of change then learning would also prove to be disadvantageous. Anything learned would immediately become irrelevant because of the changing environment.[36] The learned information would no longer apply. Essentially, the animal would be just as successful if it took a guess as if it learned. In this situation, non-learning would evolve. In fact, it was shown in a study of Drosophila melanogaster that learning can actually lead to a decrease in productivity, possibly because egg-laying behaviors and decisions were impaired by interference from the memories gained from the new learned materials or because of the cost of energy in learning.[37]

However, in environments where change occurs within an animal's lifetime but is not constant, learning is more likely to evolve. Learning is beneficial in these scenarios because an animal can adapt to the new situation, but can still apply the knowledge that it learns for a somewhat extended period of time. Therefore, learning increases the chances of success as opposed to guessing.[36] An example of this is seen in aquatic environments with landscapes subject to change. In these environments learning is favored because the fish are predisposed to learn the specific spatial cues where they live.[38]

Machine learning[edit]

Robots can learn to cooperate.
Main article: Machine learning


See also[edit]


  1. ^ Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, Daniel M. Wegner (2009, 2011). Psychology, 2nd edition. Worth Publishers. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-4292-3719-2.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Jungle Gyms: The Evolution of Animal Play
  3. ^ What behavior can we expect of octopuses?
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Sandman, Wadhwa, Hetrick, Porto & Peeke. (1997). Human fetal heart rate dishabituation between thirty and thirty-two weeks gestation. Child Development, 68, 1031–1040.
  6. ^ http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/314/Non-associativeLearning.pdf
  7. ^ Gagliano M. et al (2014). Experience teaches plants to learn faster and forget slower in environments where it matters. Oecologia, 175 (1).
  9. ^ Bitterman et al. 1983. Classical Conditioning of Proboscis Extension in Honeybees (Apis mellifera). J. Comp. Psych. 97: 107-119.
  10. ^ Tsakanikos, E. (2006). Associative learning and perceptual style: are associated events perceived analytically or as a whole? Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 579-586. [2]
  11. ^ a b Lillemyr, O.F. (2009). Taking play seriously. Children and play in early childhood education – an exciting challenge. Charlott, NC: Information Age Publishing.
  12. ^ Whitebread, D., Coltman, P., Jameson, H., Lander, R. (2009). Play, cognition and self-regulation: What exactly are children learning when they learn through play? Educational & Child Psychology 26(2) 40-52.
  14. ^ Paradise, Ruth (1994). "Interactional Style and Nonverbal Meaning: Mazahua Children Learning How to Be Separate-But-Together". Anthropology & Education Quarterly. doi:10.1525/aeq.1994.25.2.05x0907w. 
  19. ^ Augmented Learning, Augmented Learning: Context-Aware Mobile Augmented Reality Architecture for Learning
  22. ^ Hassard, Jack. "Backup of Meaningful Learning Model". Retrieved 30 November 2011. 
  24. ^ Tangential Learning http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/tangential-learning
  25. ^ J. Scott Armstrong (1979). "The Natural Learning Project". Journal of Experiential Learning and Simulation 1: 5–12. 
  26. ^ Konetes, George (2011). "The Effects of Distance Education and Student Involvement on Incidental Learning" (PDF). IUP Doctoral Disserations: 115. Retrieved 2014-07-12. 
  27. ^ Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning
  28. ^ Perkins, D.N.; Salomon, G. (Jan–Feb 1989). "Are Cognitive Skills Context-Bound?". Educational Researcher 18 (1): 16–25 [19]. doi:10.3102/0013189x018001016. 
  30. ^ a b Perkins, D.N.; Salomon, G. (1992). "Transfer of Learning". International Encyclopedia of Education 2. 
  31. ^ Rogers, Agnes L. (1916). "The Bearing of the New Psychology upon the Teaching of Mathematics". Teacher's College Record 17: 344–352. 
  32. ^ Schwartz, Daniel L., John D. Bransford, and David Sears (2005). "Efficiency and innovation in transfer: Transfer of learning from a modern multidisciplinary perspective". pp. 1–15. 
  33. ^ Ruger, Henry Alfred (1910). "The psychology of efficiency: an experimental study of the processes involved in the solution of mechanical puzzles and in the acquisition of skill in their manipulation". Science Press 19 (2). 
  34. ^ [(Bransford, 2000, pg.15-20)]
  36. ^ a b c d DunlapLehtila_umn_0130E_10349.pdf. at <http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/51978/1/DunlapLehtila_umn_0130E_10349.pdf>
  37. ^ Mery, Frederic; Kawecki, Tadeusz J. 0003-3472, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.12.005>
  38. ^ Odling-Smee, L. and Braithwaite, V. A. (2003), The role of learning in fish orientation. Fish and Fisheries, 4: 235–246. doi: 10.1046/j.1467-2979.2003.00127.x