Animal learning in psychology

Animal Learning

Comparative cognition is a psychological approach to learning that studies how animals process information. S.T. Boysen (1998) in his article presents the summary and review of different issues concerning this approach specifically in relation to animal learning. Pervious studies and researches were discussed and their findings were carefully explained to show how cognitive learning approach has evolved over the years and what it tells us about "information-processing, reasoning, memory, and the phylogenetic emergence of mind" in nonhuman species. Imitative behavior and the influence of imitation on learning capabilities of an animal have occupied the most important place in comparative cognitive research. However imitation has been a contentious subject with varying definitions as key researchers have failed to agree on one specific pattern of learning through imitation even though the earliest studies in this connection appeared during late 19th century. For example Romanes (1884) found that imitation required "intelligent perception of the desirability of the modification on the part of certain individuals, who modify their actions accordingly," however his research was limited to human learning. Morgan (1900) discovered that imitative behavior as observed in nonhuman species was not exactly true imitation but appeared that way. His work prompted later researchers to discover what exactly was meant by true imitation and if there were indeed more than one type of imitative learning. This led Galef (1988) to disclose various kinds of imitative behavior some 100 years later. He classified imitation into "intelligent imitation, reflective imitation, instinctive imitation, pseudo-imitation, true imitation" etc. Galef and others that followed this theory maintained that learning through imitation was subjected to social influences. It was found that animals learnt mainly through interaction with the local and stimulus enhancements. In other words,

Spence (1937) and Thorpe (1956) referred to different instances in animal learning process to highlight the theory that animals might appear to be imitating another object but often their reactions spring from their "repertoire" and is triggered only when appropriate stimulus is provided. This is referred to as social facilitation whereby sometimes animals behave in the manner of the observed animal not due to their imitative capabilities but because the reaction was already present in their memory. Clayton (1978) agreed with this theory and defined social facilitation as "the result of increasing the likelihood of an animal performing a behavior already in its repertoire while in the presence of another animal already performing the behavior."

In another article by Thomas Zentall, the author elaborated on comparative cognitive approach and also presented various examples to explain how this cognitive behaviorist approach studies animal learning. Hull (1943) Spence (1937) and Thorndike (1911), found that "associations, drive, and incentive" played an important role on the learning process in animals and showed that most nonhuman species were capable to storing and following cognitive maps. In other words, when exposed to incentive and made to follow a particular path, they could store the image of the place in their brains that would help them later reach their goal faster and more efficiently. Tolman (1932) elaborated on this theory to show that association and incentive was important to development of latent learning. Tolman thus "allowed for the possibility that learning could be latent and that it involves unobservable stimulus-stimulus associations that may become overt only when a reward is available to provide the organism with a reason to demonstrate what it has learned." However after initial criticism of his approach, researchers in 1970s found that cognitive behaviorist theory was valid as it could explain the continuity of learning behavior among species. In other words, they found that humans shared their learning capabilities with some animals and this was proved with the help of various experiments. Tolman's cognitive map theory has thus come to occupy a pivotal position in animal learning research. Menzel (1978) and Chapuis and Varlet (1987) proved the significance of cognitive maps in animal learning with the help of experiments whereby chimpanzees and dogs were exposed to the incentive but were shown a circuitous path to it. However when left alone to reach their goal on their own, these animals demonstrated a human-like capability to reach their target through shortest possible route.