Decades-old model of learning is under fire

Ivan Pavlov observing a dog experiment. (Image: Getty)

Sat, 21 Jan 2023

The buzz of a notification or the ding of an email might inspire excitement – or dread. In a famous experiment, Russian experimental neurologist and psychologist Ivan Pavlov showed that dogs can be taught to salivate at the tick of a metronome or the sound of a harmonium.This connection of cause to effect – known as associative, or reinforcement learning – is central to how most animals deal with the world.Since the early 1970s, the dominant theory of what is going on has been that animals learn by trial and error. Associating...

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