Chapter 6 focuses on learning- the change in an organism's behavior or though as a result of experience. It breaks it down into 4 groups: Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitive models of learning, and biological influences on learning. Classical conditioning states that virtually all of our knowledge is acquired by conditioning, which is the forming of associations among stimuli. Operant conditioning is learning controlled by the consequences of the organism's behavior (Staddon & Cerutti, 2003). This behavior is usually followed by a reward, for example, if you put a dollar into a vending machine, your reward is a candy bar. This is the belief that things operate in an environment to get what they want. Some models of cognitive learning include latent learning and observational learning. Latent learning isn't directly observable and it is learning based off of what we already know. Observational learning is learning by watching and examining others actions and what they do. We often experience observational learning through parents, teachers and other influential people. What I found very interesting in this chapter is sleep-assisted learning. Many people actually learn while they are sound asleep. There was a group of investigators who gave morse code to sailors while they were asleep. Results showed they learned morse code three weeks faster than sailor who weren't exposed to it.
Learning (Ch. 6)
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Sleep assisted learning is still something that I find very fascinating even if the efficacy is still questionable. I think we live in a culture of "easy fixes" and as a result, it makes this so much easier to hold onto as a valid solution. If only I could learn another language in my sleep!
Similar to the concept of sleep assisted learning, I found that when I was learning French and was studying in France, listening to French music while I studied or as I went to sleep seemed to improve my ability to understand the language better. I don't really think that it was that I was learning anything NEW but rather that I became more accustomed to hearing the French language and became better able to hear the more subtle tonal differences when I spoke with native French speakers. If you are learning a new language I recommend listening to music, news casts, and everyday conversations in that language while you do routine things. It helps you to more easily recognize certain sounds and the rhythms of speech of the language - your ability to replicate the sounds yourself will improve.
The different learning styles can seem like common sense, being rewarded you repeat your actions and when you are punished you most likely won't repeat your actions. Interesting note on sleep assisted learning, I have always heard or subconsciously "known" that something happens in the learning process when we sleep. Studying before you fall asleep or going over tasks for the next day that you want to remember can help you recall this information in the morning. I'm interested to learn about how this happens.