Can associative processes explain all forms of animal learning?

Hume an opinion or belief is a lively idea related to or associated with a

present impression
Thorndikes Law of Efect if an association is followed by a satisfyin! state of
afairs it will be stren!thened and if it is followed by an annoyin! state of
afairs it will be weakened
"o animals learn to associate stimuli and responses#
$lassical conditionin! is an associative process#
%avlovs do!s
&istula from salivary !land allowed saliva unconditioned response to be
measured
$onditioned stimulus was bell rin!in!' unconditioned stimulus was food
presentation
(ell and food both presented' do!s learned to associate them' so when the bell
ran! alone they would drool
This case appetitive conditionin!
)versive unconditioned stimuli will result in defensive conditionin! e! if sucrose
solution followed by in*ection of lithium chloride to induce illness in rats' rats will
reduce intake of sucrose because they have associated sucrose and u!hh
+perant conditionin! is also an associative process#
)nimals presented with a situation will learn to take whatever action results in
the most satisfyin! outcome' as proposed by Thorndikes Law of Efect# This
involves trial and error learnin!, the animal -rst has to perform a number of
actions# +ne of these by chance may be the one leadin! to the satisfyin!
outcome' and the action and the outcome will become associated# &or e.ample'
rats in a bo. will learn to press a lever' if pressin! that lever results in a food
reward# /f these rats are split into two !roups' and for one !roup the food is
devalued by followin! it with in*ections of lithium chloride resultin! in sickness'
when returned to the bo. with the lever' the rats for which the food reward has
been devalued will no lon!er press the lever# They have learned to associate the
food with an unpleasant feelin!' so they seem to know that pressin! the lever
will lead to the unpleasant feelin!# 0ats will also learn not to press a lever if the
lever press is punished with an electric shock#
However' there are many processes that are not associative#
Habituation' for e.ample' is a type of implicit learnin!' where repeated
presentation of a stimulus results in a decrease in response to the stimulus# &or
e.ample' prairie do!s are known for the alarm calls they !ive upon si!ht of a
predator# They will' however' habituate to noises that occur repeatedly but do
not ever harm them' for e.ample human footsteps# Habituation is important
because it prevents the animals from wastin! time and ener!y in respondin! to
stimuli that are not dan!erous#
&ilial imprintin! may be a non1associative process# /t is the process by which a
youn! animals followin! behaviour tends to become limited to a particular
ob*ect' due to e.posure to that ob*ect usually its mother' in nature# /mprintin!
occurs durin! a sensitive period' soon after hatchin!' and occurs in precocial
birds and animals# /t prevents the animals from leavin! their mother' on whom
they rely for food' shelter and warmth# /mprinted animals can subse2uently re1
direct their attention to another ob*ect' but they will not for!et the -rst ob*ect
they imprinted on# Loren3 ar!ued that -lial imprintin! is non1associative'
however Hofman su!!ested that imprintin! is in fact a form of classical
conditionin!' where the movin! ob*ect is the unconditioned stimulus and the
static features of the ob*ect are the conditioned stimulus# $hicks and ducklin!s
will perform an instrumental response to improve their view of a movin! ob*ect
before they have become imprinted' showin! that visually followin! a movin!
ob*ect is an intrinsically rewardin! stimulus and so can act as a reinforcer so
perhaps -lial imprintin! is in fact associative#
(irdson! learnin! also appears to be non1associative# "on!s are lon! elaborate
vocalisations that are typically produced by male birds durin! the breedin!
season' to attract potential mates or to drive away other males# +scines are
birds that learn their son!s from tutor males in their population# The son! is
memorised durin! a sensitive period early in the life of the bird' and followed by
vocal practice of the son!# The youn! bird uses auditory feedback to match his
vocalisations to the tutor son! that he previously committed to memory# These
son!s are typically retained throu!hout life#
To conclude' the associative model of learnin! is not su4cient to e.plain all
forms of learnin!' and there are several important e.amples of learnin! that are
clearly not associative' for e.ample habituation and vocal learnin!# /t is possible
that imprintin! can be e.plained by classical conditionin!' in which case it may
be associative' however far from all forms of learnin! are conditioned or
associative processes#