learning and cognition

People can attend to verbal or other stimuli with intention to remember facts or events {learning}|.

types: knowledge

People can learn facts and concepts about world, declarative knowledge. People can learn how to perform tasks in world, procedural knowledge [Campbell, 1994].

types: sense qualities

Sense qualities change with learning or training. Learning affects verbal and spatial abilities. Sights, smells, feelings, and sounds change as relations to other things change. Long training typically makes sense qualities less salient or makes them vanish, as people do more things automatically and/or become habituated to stimuli. Varying information flow changes seeing [Underwood and Stevens, 1979].

properties: relearning

Relearning same verbal-item sequence requires fewer repetitions than the first learning.

requirements

Learning requires sensation and perception.

processes

Systems can learn if they or outside forces can alter system relations. Learning uses input information to direct mechanism that can change system relations and/or rules. Learning leads to new states or new state trajectories.

processes: behavior

Learning requires both old and new behaviors to exist simultaneously for testing and comparison until one proves better. Old-behavior structures still remain and are available for other uses.

processes: cognitive map

Animals can orient themselves in space and make cognitive maps of environment to guide behavior [1950].

processes: cue

New learning requires distinctive stimuli {cue, learning} to elicit new responses. Cueing sends signals to lower elements to get responses, along paths to elements or around circuits. Cueing can search, question, request address, activate behavior, or change state.

processes: description

Learning combines several descriptions into one description, groups incompatible descriptions, modifies description, or integrates structures, functions, or actions.

processes: drive reduction

Learning can involve drive reduction. However, learning can happen without drive reduction.

processes: expectation

Association cortex compares expected to actual, to maximize new information. People know expected value because they encounter same situations many times. Perceptual learning requires ability to detect differences.

processes: experience

Perhaps, learning phenomenal concepts requires phenomenal qualities. Perhaps, learning phenomenal concepts is purely physical.

processes: goal

Learning sets goals. However, learning can happen without goal seeking.

processes: imitation

Animals can change behavior by imitation.

processes: information

Minds learn patterns that have least amount of new information, because they happen most often and so are most redundant.

processes: memory

Learning stores information in mind. Learning {verbal learning} and memory can be about words, sentences, and stories. People can learn word sounds and visual appearances.

processes: parameters

Task uses muscles. Signals to muscles are parameter or variable values, which have limited range. Success requires combining parameter values. To learn to perform task requires methods to set and remember variable values and record success or failure. Upon failure, system suppresses parameter settings. Upon success, system enhances settings. Systems cannot change variables themselves, unless they alter from outside or change system level.

processes: reasoning

Animals can change behavior by reasoning.

processes: result knowledge

Direct and precise knowledge of action results is best for learning.

processes: repetition

For verbal items, more rehearsal improves learning and recall. More repetition also results in fewer errors. Learning longer sequences requires more repetition to achieve same success percentage. For example, learning twice as many items requires more than twice as much repetition.

processes: reward

Learning is painful because it is hard, slow, and takes time from other activities, so later rewards must overcome current pain. Reward affects practice amount, not learning itself. Rewards assist learning if people have physical or psychological overt response. Cognitive or mediational response, like idea, logical deduction, perception, or definition, does not help learning.

Rewards strengthen successful subsystem processes or combinations.

Reward for proper behavior is pleasure and satisfaction.

Stimulation variety is itself rewarding. The penalty for not seeking and not finding stimulation is boredom.

People do not need to know rewards for them to be good rewards.

Reward should immediately follow success, but not every time, so people do not expect it.

If organism does not have essential needs, it becomes active.

The punishment for biologically wrong behavior is unhappiness.

Rewards and punishments determine attention to features and objects, so learning affects attention.

Something that animal chooses over something else is rewarding. Rewards are relative.

processes: visualization

If people can visualize referents, learning word sets is easier.

causes

Responses to successes or failures in performing functions can cause learning. Evaluation function sends input information.

effects

Learning does not change fundamental behaviors, such as postures, calls, and scratching behaviors.

effects: action coordination

Learning coordinates actions.

effects: emotion

Emotions are automatic but learning and consciousness can affect them.

factors: amnesia

Amnesia still allows short-term memory, procedural learning, and conditioning. People can improve performance even if they cannot remember previous practice [Farthing, 1992] [Young, 1996].

factors: activity level

Person's activity level affects learning rate and retention.

factors: body geometry

Learning new behavior depends on body spatial geometry.

factors: exploration

Active exploration aids learning. Scanning and exploration precede understanding and decision.

factors: motivation

Interest and concern aid learning.

factors: metaknowledge in learning

Knowledge about knowledge aids memory and learning. Metaknowledge includes perception, thinking, purpose, situation, mental process, function, and set patterns. It relates to previous knowledge. It relates learning to larger units. It finds learning patterns. It applies knowledge to new situations.

factors: stress level

Person's stress level affects learning rate and retention.

factors: temperature

Person's temperature affects learning rate and retention.

biology

All mammals learn.

biology: ape

Apes recognize objects using fast multisensory processes and slow single-sense processes. Apes do not transfer learning from one sense to another.

The bonobo Kanzi learned to use and understand 150 words, typically to express desires or refer to present objects, using instrumental association. The words probably did not refer to things, as humans mean them to do. Kanzi did not learn grammar [Savage-Rumbaugh, 1986].

biology: invertebrate learning

Bees can learn [Menzel and Erber, 1978].

Fruitflies can learn by trace conditioning or delay conditioning [Tully and Quinn, 1985].

Snails can learn [Alkon, 1983] [Alkon, 1987].

biology: drug

Depressants and stimulants affect learning.

biology: cerebellum

All timed perceptions and responses, such as eye-blink conditioning, involve cerebellum.

biology: frontal lobe

Frontal lobe damage causes impaired associational learning.

biology: immediate early gene

Learning activates immediate early genes, which use cAMP signal path.

ventral premotor area

New brain area in humans aided visually guided hand movements and learning by watching.

biology: zinc

Low zinc can cause slow learning.

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