Learning

Latent Learning: It is a type of cognitive learning. In latent learning, a new behaviour is learned but not demonstrated until reinforcement is provided for displaying it. Tolman made an early contribution to the concept of latent learning. He puts two groups of rats in a maze and gave them an opportunity to explore. In one group, rats found food at the end of the maze and soon learned to make their way rapidly through the maze. On the other hand, rats in the second group were not rewarded and showed no apparent signs of learning. But later, when these rats were reinforced, they can through the maze as efficiently as the rewarded group.

Tolman contended that the unrewarded rats had learned the layout of the maze early in their explorations. They just never displayed their latent learning until the reinforcement was provided. Instead, the rats developed a cognitive map of the maze, i.e. a mental representation of the spatial locations and directions, which they needed to reach their goal.

According to Fitts, skill learning passes through the following three phases:

(i) Cognitive: In this phase of skill learning, the learner has to understand and memories the instructions, and also understand how the task has to be performed. In this phase, every outside cue, instructional demand, and one’s response outcome have to be kept alive in consciousness.

(ii) Associative: The second phase is associative. In this phase, different sensory inputs or stimuli are linked with appropriate responses. As the practice increases, errors decrease, performance improves and time taken is also reduced. With continued practice, errorless performance begins, though the learner has to be attentive to all the sensory inputs and maintain concentration on the task. Then the third phase, i.e., autonomous phase, begins.

(iii) Autonomous: In this phase, two important changes take place in performance : The attentional demands of the associative phase decrease, and interference created by external factors reduces. Finally, skilled performance attains automaticity with minimal demands on conscious effort.

Example of classical conditioning in everyday life is imagine that you have just finished your lunch and you are feeling satisfied. Then you see sweet dish in the other table. This signals its taste in your mouth. This is conditioned response.

Relationship of stages of conditioning and operations