Analysis of Learning
S.A. Barnett · 2017
Learning psychologists are still groping with methodological problems that they hope will lead to a major breakthrough in understanding behavior. This chapter is devoted to attempts to give an orderly analysis of trial-and-error behaviour. In animals with nervous systems all behaviour is mediated by links between sense organs and effectors. Learned behaviour depends on the creation of new links. The rapid learning of a maze which is the index of exploratory learning is an example of insight behaviour. Generalization and discrimination are necessarily features of all complex learned behaviour. The resistance to extinction of some learned avoidance behaviour leads to an important aspect of punishment. It has been suggested, by O. H. Mowrer among others, that there are two distinct learning processes. One is the anthropomorphic terminology. The second feature of Mowrer&s;s system is the emphasis on the role of anticipation in learning.