Cognitive Learning
Over the past several years the discipline of psychology has experienced a resurgence of interest in higher mental processes. Cognitive learning is learning that involved mental processes such as thinking and the development if decision rules.
Insight Learning
In a typical conditioning study we assume that experience works slowly to form habits, and that, consequently, learning is reflected by gradual improvements in performance. But in some cases the solution to a problem comes in an instant, with a sudden grasp of the concept, as if it came out of nowhere. This sudden awareness to the solution to a problem is called insight learning.
Tolman and Latent Learning
Edward C. Tolman contended that we learn meanings, or the relation of one stimulus to another. In this model, responses are viewed only as convenient, purposeful acts that result in goal attainment. Latent learning is defined as learning that occurs in the absence of apparent reward. Tolman believed that animals incorporate information about their environment even when there is no specific reason to do so. According to Tolman, the rats' experiences in the maze in the tests he conducted were sufficient for the rats to form cognitive maps, or mental layouts, of the apparatus.
Abstract Learning
Animal research in the area of abstract learning has shown that cognition is an important part of learning in a variety of species. In abstract learning, relations between and among stimuli are more important than the physical features of those stimuli. Two commonly used features for exploring abstract learning are matching-to-sample and oddity discriminations. In matching-to-sample, the subject must learn to respond to the stimulus just presented. Conversely, in oddity, the subject must learn to respond to a different stimulus from the one just presented.
Observational Learning
Psychologist Albert Bandura was one of the first persons to record the importance of observational learning, which is learning that takes place by watching another participant performing the task. With observational learning it seems there are dispositions toward making some connections and not others. Findings from studies performed by Cooke and Mineka suggest that there may be biological constraints on cognitive learning, as well as on other forms of learning. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy features of observational learning is the positive influence it has on human and animal behavior.
Artificial Intelligence and Parallel Distributed Processing
Cognitive scientists have recently begun to look more closely at computer models of learning. Because humans may process information in machinelike ways, we may be able to obtain clues about human thought by simulating thinking on computers. This concept has been the inspiration for artificial intelligence. Parallel distributing processing (PDP) models represent a major departure from conventional schools of thought because they suggest that learning takes place in many different locations in the brain at the same time. Physiological evidence supports this position.
