Learning Complex Tasks Like Driving

Learning Complex tasks like driving a car are not learned through simple conditioning or through trial and error, but rather though observation and repetition. Higher order processes are needed for this type of learning, which occurs largely on a conscious basis. Cognitive learning theories are those that focus on the though processes that are present in learning situations rather than the external stimuli and other more readily observed features of classical and operant conditioning.

Latent learning is a type of cognitive learning n which a skill or behavior is learned but not repeated until there is an incentive to do so -- it is unreinforced during the learning process, that is.

Experiments with rats showed that latent learning can be just as powerful as reinforced learning: rats that received a food reward for completing a maze demonstrated much faster learning rates than rats that did not receive a reward, but when some of the rats that had run the maze without a reward were suddenly given a food reward for completing it, their completion times almost instantly caught up with those of the always-rewarded group -- the rats had learned the maze equally well, but the no-reward rats did not demonstrate this learning until the reward was present.

Pages 201-202 Observational learning, sometimes called the social cognitive approach to learning because it depends on the ability of individuals to learn from other individuals that they encounter or at least observe, occurs when behaviors seen exhibited by an external individual are repeated by the learner. In a famous experiment, children that had seen a video of adults treating a large doll in an aggressive manner repeated the same aggressive behaviors when given an opportunity to play with the doll.

There are some indications that observational learning might be genetic; animals teaching their young to hunt and the discovery of mirror neurons -- brain cells that fire when emotions/behaviors are observed in others -- both point to a biological basis for this type of learning. This learning is far more likely to occur if observed behaviors are met with rewards, however.

Observational learning is also at the heart of the controversy concerning violence in the media, which some believe leads to more violent behavior in real life as individuals observe and learn from "fake" violent depictions. Pages 203-204 There is growing evidence that violent media does in fact lead to increased real-world violence, both with "copy-cat" crimes and simply with violence generally.

Exposure to violence lowers inhibitions against violence and possibly alters perceptions about the meanings and intentions behind others' behaviors, as well, causing nonviolent acts to be perceived as more aggressive than.