Simple nonassociative learningAssociative learning: conditioningSpatial learningPerceptual learningComplex problem solving
animal learning, the alternation of behaviour as a result of individual experience. When an organism can perceive and change its behaviour, it is said to learn.
That animals can learn seems to go without saying. The cat that runs to its food dish when it hears the sound of the cupboard opening; the rat that solves a maze in the laboratory; the bird that acquires the song of its species—these and many other common examples demonstrate that animals can learn. Yet what is meant by saying that animals can learn? What, in other words, is learning? This question proves exceedingly difficult ... (100 of 20,462 words)