General Learning Theory Research Articles

Nonassociative learning as gated neural integrator and differentiator in stimulus-response pathways.

Nonassociative learning is a basic neuroadaptive behavior exhibited across animal phyla and sensory modalities but its role in brain intelligence is unclear. Current literature on habituation and sensitization, the classic "dual process" of nonassociative learning, gives highly incongruous accounts between varying experimental paradigms. Here we propose a general theory of nonassociative learning featuring four base modes: habituation/primary sensitization in primary stimulus-response pathways, and desensitization/secondary sensitization in secondary stimulus-response pathways. Primary and secondary modes of nonassociative learning are distinguished by corresponding activity-dependent recall, or nonassociative gating, of neurotransmission memory. From the perspective of brain computation, nonassociative learning is a form of integral-differential calculus whereas nonassociative gating is a form of Boolean logic operator – both dynamically transforming the stimulus-response relationship. From the perspective of sensory integration, nonassociative gating provides temporal filtering whereas nonassociative learning affords low-pass, high-pass or band-pass/band-stop frequency filtering – effectively creating an intelligent sensory firewall that screens all stimuli for attention and resultant internal model adaptation and reaction. This unified framework ties together many salient characteristics of nonassociative learning and nonassociative gating and suggests a common kernel that correlates with a wide variety of sensorimotor integration behaviors such as central resetting and self-organization of sensory inputs, fail-safe sensorimotor compensation, integral-differential and gated modulation of sensorimotor feedbacks, alarm reaction, novelty detection and selective attention, as well as a variety of mental and neurological disorders such as sensorimotor instability, attention deficit hyperactivity, sensory defensiveness, autism, nonassociative fear and anxiety, schizophrenia, addiction and craving, pain sensitization and phantom sensations, etc.

Towards a didactical theory for mathematical modelling

Mathematics education research has been somewhat short of its own paradigmatic theories (see ZDM, 2005, issue 6 and ZDM 2006, issue 1 for an ongoing discussion). Theories are often borrowed from the background sciences and applied to the field of mathematics education e.g. general learning theories from pedagogy, sociology, psychology etc. This has led to our field being a subject to a host of criticisms (e,g., Lerman, 2006; Lester, 2005; Sriraman & English, 2005, 2006; Steen, 1999). Therefore it is relevant to look for areas in mathematics education where theories may emerge from studying the processes of teaching and learning mathematics. In this issue of ZDM we present and discuss what we consider to be an example of a developing theory within the field of mathematics education research, namely a theory for the teaching and learning of mathematical modelling. During the last decades a coherent theoretical understanding of mathematical modelling processes and connected teaching and learning processes has been emerging. This has happened through a close interplay between the development of curricula, teaching practices, experimental teaching, theoretical reflections and research. Together with the use of information technology, the introduction of mathematical modelling and applications is a prominent general feature of the recent developments in the practice of mathematics teaching, especially with regard to secondary level teaching. In this development, didactical research has already played an important role and we find it of general interest for mathematics education research to examine the development of a theory for mathematical modelling as a paradigmatic case for developing theory in close interplay with teaching practice.

Identity, deep structure and the development of leadership skill

A theory of leadership development is advanced, suggesting that changes in leadership skills may be viewed from the perspective of a general theory of learning and expertise, with consideration of the associated changes in information processing and underlying knowledge structures that occur as skill develops. More specifically, we propose that leadership performance is organized in terms of a progression from novice to intermediate to expert skill levels. At each skill level, the emphasis is on qualitatively different knowledge and information processing capabilities. In addition, because leadership skill development requires proaction on the part of the leader, we propose that identity, meta-cognitive processes, and emotional regulation are critical factors in developing the deeper cognitive structures associated with leadership expertise. Finally, expert leaders may develop unique skills in grounding their identities and leadership activities in coherent, self-relevant, authentic values.

The Concept of a Universal Learning System as a Basis for Creating a General Mathematical Theory of Learning

The number of studies related to natural and artificial mechanisms of learning rapidly increases. However, there is no general theory of learning that could provide a unifying basis for exploring different directions in this growing field. For a long time the development of such a theory has been hindered by nativists' belief that the development of a biological organism during ontogeny should be viewed as parameterization of an innate, encoded in the genome structure by an innate algorithm, and nothing essentially new is created during this process. Noam Chomsky has claimed, therefore, that the creation of a non-trivial general mathematical theory of learning is not feasible, since any algorithm cannot produce a more complex algorithm. This study refutes the above argumentation by developing a counter-example based on the mathematical theory of algorithms and computable functions. It introduces a novel concept of a Universal Learning System (ULS) capable of learning to control in an optimal way any given constructive system from a certain class. The necessary conditions for the existence of a ULS and its main functional properties are investigated. The impossibility of building an algorithmic ULS for a sufficiently complex class of controlled objects is shown, and a proof of the existence of a nonalgorithmic ULS based on the axioms of classical mathematics is presented. It is argued that a non-algorithmic ULS is a legitimate object of not only mathematics, but also the world of nature. These results indicate that an algorithmic description of the organization and adaptive development of biological systems in general is not sufficient. At the same time, it is possible to create a rigorous non-algorithmic general theory of learning as a theory of ULS. The utilization of this framework for integrating learning-related studies is discussed.

Is technological learning a firm core competence, when, how and why? A longitudinal, multi-industry study of firm technological learning and market performance

This paper proposes the conceptual outline for a general theory of higher order technological learning within and across firms and attempts to empirically test the power of correlation between technological learning and market performance in select multi-industry firm clusters over multi-year periods. After reviewing relevant extant literature, this paper constructs an integrated, multi-dimensional framework for the analysis of technological learning activities and their associated impact on firm market performance. Using a subset of the concepts in this framework, a pilot study was conducted to test the relationship between technological learning effort and firm market performance. The analysis combines traditional quantitative indicators of learning with a qualitative index constructed through inductive examination of corporate annual reports. The empirical analysis shows some strength in the relationship between technological learning and market performance, but this relationship is dependent upon temporal, non-linear, firm-specific factors. The results of the study are discussed in the context of expanding research to integrate all aspects and levels of technological learning, especially differentiating between higher order (strategic and tactical) and basic (operational) learning.

Unsupervised neural learning on lie group.

The present paper aims at introducing the concepts and mathematical details of unsupervised neural learning with orthonormality constrains. The neural structures considered are single non-linear layers and the learnable parameters are organized in matrices, as usual, which gives the parameters spaces the geometrical structure of the Euclidean manifold. The constraint of orthonormality for the connection-matrices further restricts the parameters spaces to differential manifolds such as the orthogonal group, the compact Stiefel manifold and its extensions. For these reasons, the instruments for characterizing and studying the behavior of learning equations for these particular networks are provided by the differential geometry of Lie groups. In particular, two sub-classes of the general Lie-group learning theories are studied in detail, dealing with first-order (gradient-based) and second-order (non-gradient-based) learning. Although the considered class of learning theories is very general, in the present paper special attention is paid to unsupervised learning paradigms.

General Process Learning Theory: Challenges from Response and Stimulus Factors

Traditionally, general theories of learning have focused on associative and other mechanisms that are responsible for conditioned behavior without seriously considering how those mechanisms might vary depending on the stimulus being learned about and the response that provides evidence of learning. Recent studies of sexual conditioning in male domesticated quail have revealed both quantitative and qualitative variations in the functional properties of conditioned behavior depending on the response that is measured and the events or objects that serve as conditioned stimuli. For example, sexually conditioned sign tracking behavior is directly related to the ratio between context exposure (C) and trial duration (T) in a conditioning procedure, but sexually conditioned goal tracking is inversely related to the C/T ratio. Other studies have shown that conditioned stimuli that include limited cues from a female quail support different forms of sexually conditioned behavior than conditioned stimuli that lack female features. Furthermore, these various conditioned responses are differentially sensitive to extinction and reinforcer devaluation. The implications of these findings for general process learning theory are discussed.

An Organizational Learning Framework: From Intuition to Institution

Although interest in organizational learning has grown dramatically in recent years, a general theory of organizational learning has remained elusive. We identify renewal of the overall enterprise as the underlying phenomenon of interest and organizational learning as a principal means to this end. With this perspective we develop a framework for the process of organizational learning, presenting organizational learning as four processes—intuiting, interpreting, integrating, and institutionalizing—linking the individual, group, and organizational levels.

Evidence based rules and learning in symmetric normal-form games

We put forth a general theory of boundedly rational behavior and learning for symmetric normal-form games with unique symmetric Nash equilibria. A class of evidence-based behavioral rules is specified, which includes best-responding to a prior and Nash play. A player begins with initial propsenities towards the rules, and given experience over time adjusts his/her propensities in proportion to the past performance of the rules. We focus on scenarios in which the past distribution of play is revealed to all players. Confronting this theory with experimental data, we find significant support for rule learning and heterogeneity among participants.

Blocking of Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans

Despite the many demonstrations of blocking in animals, there is still little evidence of blocking with human subjects, which is problematic for general learning and behavior theory. The purpose of this research was to examine blocking with human subjects using a design and behavioral procedure (conditioned suppression) similar to those commonly used in animal research. First, subjects learned an operant task. Later, they were instructed to suppress responding when a visual US was presented. Two Pavlovian acquisition phases and a test phase occurred while the subjects were performing the operant task. In the first Pavlovian phase, CS A predicted the US for the experimental group, but was uncorrelated with the US for the control group. In the second Pavlovian phase, a compound CS AX predicted the US for both groups. At test, CS X was presented to all subjects and suppression ratios were assessed. Experimental subjects suppressed responding in the presence of CS X less than did control subjects, thereby demonstrating a blocking effect. This research, in demonstrating blocking in humans, adds to the known similarities in animal and human behavior.

Strategy orientations, learner activity, and learning outcomes: Implications for instructional support of learning

Investigated were the differential effects of strategy orientations (memory strategy, organization strategy, application strategy, and read-and-study control) orthogonally crossed with learner activity (guided versus active) and outcomes (memory, organization, and application). Subjects were 136 undergraduates, randomly assigned to 1 of 8 treatments. One day after they studied a passage on the topic of radar, outcome measures were completed. Guided activities were found to be superior to the learner-active counterparts on a composite achievement score. The hypothesized interaction of strategy orientation and kind of measure was supported. Performance was highest, in every comparison, on the outcome measure that paralleled the strategy-orientation treatment. The main effect of strategy orientation on the total achievement score was not significant. These findings were discussed in terms of the transfer-appropriate processing theory, the encoding specificity principle, and generative learning theory, with implications for further research and instructional design.

The development of topography in the visual cortex: a review of models

The repetitive stochastic patterns of eye dominance and orientation preference found in the mammalian visual cortex have attracted much attention from theoretical neurobiologists during the last two decades. Reasons for this include the visually intriguing nature of the patterns and the fact that many aspects of their development seem likely to be dependent upon both spontaneous and visually driven patterns of neural activity. Understanding these processes holds out the promise that general theories of learning and memory may be derived from those found to be applicable to the visual cortex. It has turned out, in fact, that remarkably simple models, based on Hebbian synaptic plasticity, intracortical interactions and competitive interactions between cells and growing axons, have been able to explain much of the phenomenology. This article reviews the models of topographic organization in the visual cortex in a roughly historical sequence, beginning with von der Malsburg's paper 1973 paper in Kybernetik on self-organization of orientation selectivity. The principles on which each of the models is based are explained, and the plausibility of each model and the extent to which it is able to account for the relevant experimental data are evaluated. Attention is drawn to the underlying similarities and differences between the models and suggestions are made for future directions in research.

Psychological science in cultural context.

For the psychological sciences cultural processes have traditionally served as but a single entry into a considerable list of phenomena under study. Until recent years, such study has not been richly realized. There are many reasons for the secondary role of a culturally focused psychology. Most prominently, there are two chief ways in which culture figures in the logic of psychological science, and neither of these favors a major professional investment. If one views cultures in terms of a field of differences, then culture largely serves the same scientific role as the study of personality, that is, as a moderator or qualifier for theoretical propositions of a more general scope. Thus, the vigorous scientist will propose a general theory (potentially true for all human organisms) of learning, motivation, memory, perception or the like, in which case cultural variations serve only to qualify the character of the process in varying contexts. Typically, because of the greater scientific stakes in documenting the general as opposed to the particular, cultural variations are either de-emphasized or simply bracketed for later study. In the second mode of study, culture furnishes the proving ground for the universality of the general theory. Thus, for example, a host of investigators has sought to demonstrate the universality of emotional categories. On this model, culture itself is of secondary interest; cultural distinctiveness is but an impediment to achieving the broader goal of research. Although a sturdy and expanding band of psychologists have nevertheless generated volumes of research on cultural universals and variations (see for

A Longitudinal Test of Social Learning Theory: Adolescent Smoking

A general social learning theory of deviance is applied to adolescent smoking as a form of sustance use and tested with data from a 5-year longitudinal study of a panel (N=454) of respondents in grades 7 through 12 in an Iowa community. The major components of the process specified in the theory are differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions (attitudes), and modeling. The process is one in which the operation of these variables produces abstinence or smoking, but with some reciprocal effects of smoking behavior on the social learning variables. Previous research on various kinds of deviance and substance use has been supportive of the theory. The findings in this study from LISREL models of the overall social learning process and each of the component of association, reinforcement, and definitions are also supportive.

Labeling and differential association: Towards a general social learning theory of crime and deviance

This study contends that components from two theories-labeling and differential association-should be incorporated into a general social learning perspective of crime and deviance. Data from waves one, two, and three of the National Youth Survey (n=1725) are used to test the proposed model. Results indicate that labeling effects are mediated by associations with delinquent peers when looking at a 24-item delinquency index. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Book Reviews

Books review in this article: Human Resource Strategy: Towards A General Theory of Human Resource Management Shaun Tyson Analysing Learning Needs Malcolm Craig, Phd. Enterprise Without Unions: – Industrial Relations In the Nonunion Firm Ian Mcloughlin and Stephen Gourlay Gender Inequality At Work Jerry A. Jacobs (Ed) The People Side of Project Management Ralph Kliem and Irwin Ludin

Learning to Detour

Anurans (frogs and toads) show quite flexible behavior when confronted with stationary objects on their way to prey or when escaping from a threat. Rana computatrix (Arbib, 1987), an evolving computer model of anuran visuomotor coordination, models complex behaviors such as detouring around a stationary barrier to get to prey on the basis of an understanding of anuran prey and barrier recognition, depth perception, and appropriate motor pattern generation mechanisms based on sensory perception. Our present analysis of detour behavior goes beyond other models by incorporating new data from our laboratory demonstrating a learning component in anuran detour behavior. Building on earlier work showing how interacting schemas may be used to analyze a complex environment to generate an appropriate course of behavior, we turn to the questions: How are the relevant schemas adapted? How are schemas combined to form new schema assemblages acquired for the system to become more efficient? We describe the construction mechanisms and interactions with the environment that are necessary to achieve higher levels of detour performance. We have based this article mostly on data about learning to detour when approaching prey, but the model offers a strategy for learning to detour in general. Moreover, we have attempted to solve the problem in a general way so that the model of learning to detour points the way to a general theory of schema-based learning.

Students' learning in science lessons: towards understanding the learning process

Constructivist views of learning have been applied to science education largely as a response to attempts to understand the origins of students' misconceptions in science, and therefore the learning process. As part of this effort to understand learning in science lessons, Appleton (1989) proposed a learning model drawn mainly from Piagetian (1978) ideas and generative learning theory (Osborne & Wittrock, 1983). This paper explores the development and evolution of the learning model as other constructivist view were applied, and as the model was tested against students' responses in science lessons. The revised model finally arrived at is then examined. It was found to be a useful means of describing student's learning processes during a science lesson.

Speech perception by second language learners

Cross-language studies of speech perception by adults have shown ‘‘language-specific’’ patterns of perception of phonetic categories and contrasts. In general, phonetic categories that are distinctive (phonemic) in the listener’s native language are differentiated easily and effortlessly, while non-native phonetic categories/contrasts present perceptual difficulties. Thus learners of a second language (L2) often have persistant difficulty learning to perceive (and produce) ‘‘foreign’’ consonants and vowels. However, recent research has shown that not all non-native phonetic categories and contrasts are equally difficult to differentiate perceptually. Current theories that attempt to predict and explain these relative perceptual difficulties in terms of the relationship between native language (L1) and L2 phonetic categories will be discussed. In addition, results of perceptual training experiments with L2 learners which explore the effects of subject, stimulus, and task variables on perception of non-native phonetic categories will be summarized. Finally, implications of this research for general theories of speech perception and perceptual learning will be suggested. [Work supported by NIDCD.]

Treatment efficiency as a function of target selection in the remediation of child language disorders

A number of studies appearing in the recent literature examined the effectiveness of treating language impairments using indirect, conversationally based interventions. However, such studies have been difficult to interpret, due, in part, to a lack of direct comparisons of treatment types. The present study was designed to compare directly elicited imitation treatment and conversational treatment using linguistic targets matched for structural stage and assigned randomly to treatment condition. These treatments were applied to four specifically language-impaired children (age range 4;9 to 5;11) during a 16-week training period. Spontaneous productions occurred following significantly fewer presentations within the conversational treatment. Additionally, the results indicated that both kinds of treatments were effective and that certain individual targets were acquired more rapidly within the elicited imitation treatment. These findings are discussed in terms of the differing approaches to treatment and in terms of more general theories of language learning.