7.6 SUMMARY

• Classical conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus (a conditioned stimulus or CS) with a meaningful event (an unconditioned stimulus or US); eventually, the CS, all by itself, elicits a response called a conditioned response (CR).
• Behaviorists viewed classical conditioning as providing a model in which no higher-level functions, such as thinking or awareness, needed to be invoked to understand behavior.
• Later researchers showed, however, that classical conditioning involves setting up expectations, is sensitive to the degree to which the CS functions as a genuine predictor of the US, and can involve some degree of cognition.
• The cerebellum plays an important role in eyeblink conditioning, whereas the amygdala is important for fear conditioning.
• Each species is biologically predisposed to acquire particular CS–US associations based on its evolutionary history, showing that classical conditioning is a sophisticated mechanism that evolved because it has adaptive value.

• Operant conditioning is a process by which behaviors are reinforced and therefore become more likely to occur. The contingencies between actions and outcomes are critical in determining how an organism’s behaviors will be displayed.
• The behaviorists tried to explain behavior without considering cognitive, neural, or evolutionary mechanisms. However, as with classical conditioning, this approach turned out to be incomplete.
• Operant conditioning has clear cognitive components: Organisms behave as though they have expectations about the outcomes of their actions and adjust their actions accordingly. Cognitive influences can sometimes override the trial-by-trial feedback that usually influences learning.
• The associative mechanisms that underlie operant conditioning have their roots in evolutionary biology. Some things are relatively easily learned and others are difficult; the history of a species is usually the best clue as to which will be which.

• Observational learning is an important process by which species gather information about the world around them, and it has important social and cultural consequences.
• Chimpanzees and monkeys can benefit from observational learning, especially those reared in settings that include humans.
• The mirror neuron system becomes active during observational learning, and many of the same brain regions are active during observation and performance of a skill.

• Implicit learning is a process that detects, learns, and stores patterns without the application of explicit awareness on the part of the learner.
• Implicit learning can produce simple behaviors such as habituation and also complex behaviors, such as language use or socialization.
• Neuroimaging studies indicate that implicit and explicit learning recruit distinct brain structures, sometimes in different ways.

• Research on learning techniques indicates that some popular study methods such as highlighting, underlining, and rereading have low utility, whereas other techniques such as practice testing and distributed practice have high utility.
• Practice testing improves retention and transfer of learning and can also enhance learning and reduce mind wandering during lectures.
• Judgments of learning (JOLs) play a causal role in determining what material to study, but they can be misleading.