Learning skill has development stage, in which inadequate movements are only secondarily corrected. Learning skill then has skilled stage, in which secondary corrections become primary corrections, mind has developed movement pattern, and mistakes do not require secondary corrections.
Learning movements uses self-regulatory system. Movements start with goals, which provide models of expected future results.
All nervous-system levels integrate, from reflex or spinal level, to coordination or thalamo-striatum level, to spatial/symbolic or cortical level {afferent field, learning} [Bernstein, 1947] [Bernstein, 1967].
Learning involves dissociation and association equally {association theory}.
Learning finds optimum and maintains it {Baldwin effect}. Learning optimizes whole-system input-output function, by altering structures and relations, and requires method to inform system about optimum output.
Mind as whole has processing capacity, and brain modules have processing capacities {capacity model of learning}. For example, while learning word lists, seeing or hearing second list earlier or later uses mental capacity and interferes with learning list.
Simultaneity can be sufficient for learning {contiguity theory}, with no reinforcement. Mind automatically joins objects or events perceived or performed simultaneously.
Learning has eight types {cumulative learning theory} {cumulative learning model} [Gagné, 1977].
Several code types can operate in cognitive tasks {dual-coding hypothesis}. Learning can be passive increase in association strength during repetition, or it can be an active cognitive process using conscious strategies.
Recognizing image, situation, or problem type {learning set} can solve problem. Monkeys repeatedly trained to select one of two food objects improved learning speed. Perhaps, they learned rule: Correct means repeat, and incorrect means change to the other. All vertebrates show learning set formation, at similar rates [Harlow and Harlow, 1949].
Learning new behavior depends on learning thousands of simpler behaviors {learning unit}.
Memorizing uses attention and cognitive strategies, just like other cognitive processes {levels-of-processing model}. Memory strength depends on processing amount, which moves information to different coding levels in system: physical properties, phonemes, and semantic meanings. Recall is worse for incidental learning than for deliberate learning. However, studying difficult sentences longer does not increase memory ability. Coding phonemically does not necessarily code semantically.
Perhaps, learning requires rewards and reinforcement for motivation and attention {reinforcement theory}.
Animals form hypotheses and expectations. They can recognize problem types in environment. Signs or cues indicate problem type, especially goal type {sign-gestalt theory} [Tolman, 1932] [Tolman and Brunswik, 1935].
Learning first builds new stimulus-response associations {stimulus-response bond} and then organizes them into systems. Situations have specific responses and no general rules.
If skill is more complex to learn, it needs less motivation to learn it {Yerkes-Dodson law}. Important goals aid simple learning but hinder complex learning.
6-Psychology-Cognition-Learning
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Date Modified: 2022.0225