A Summary on James Mazur Learning and Behaviour

A Summary on James Mazur Learning and Behaviour

The writer enlightens learners on the psychological branch that emphasizes the people and animal behavior in learning and the change associated with this. Specifically, the primary goal is the identification of applicable general principles to various species in the associated learning situations. Thus, the book has given a vivid description of the vital tenets, theories, controversies and the experiences concerned with this psychological branch. The book has analyzed these concepts from simple to complex criteria based on how complicated the materials are and then expounding on the types of learning.

This journal has been written through chapters with the first one giving a description of behavioural learning approach and giving the differences in comparison to the cognitive approach. After that, it is the earliest learning processes theories and a psychological learning mechanism and the findings on this.  The second chapter then is based on innate behaviours and habituation as the simplest type of learning. Later on classical conditioning, operant conditioning and motor skills learning all appear showing a similarity on the terms and ideas used.

The third chapter emphasizes on the basic principles to classical conditioning and its therapeutic applications with the theoretical developments and the experimental findings on this getting captured in the next chapter. Facets concerned with this theory are imminent in the five sections following this. Positive reinforcement regarding basic principles and terminologies to this are in chapter five and then the next one reinforcement schedules and their applications with chapter seven being intent on punishment and negative reinforcement. Necessary learning conditions and other views like reinforce constituents are all shown in chapter eight with chapter nine generalizing and discriminating ideas and also teaching researching on the learning concept.

Comparative cognition as an area of rapid growth is in chapter ten. Then the next two sections discuss two learning types which are not much emphasized on from the other learning texts and are the observational learning and motor skills learning. Their inclusion is very vital because human knowledge must include observation and new motor skills development highly expected to be eyed on by almost all readers on these concepts. Chapter thirteen gives an overview of the presentation of behavioural research through choice. The other sections all have a similar overall structure, with new studies and references reflecting on developments. Student’s learning aids are imminent throughout the book each chapter starting with learning objectives, practice quizzes and review questions with a halt on a glossary of all these essential terms.

Research and findings show that there are different ways through which the mind changes during learning. For instance, learning involves chemical changes in the synapses which affect communication in the neurons and also the learning experience may make these neurons to develop axons and dendrites which have an effect of changing the connection strength. There is enough evidence supporting that learning experiences leads to new synaptic growth in the neurons with the support attributed to research on an experiment involving animals being exposed to enriched living environments the analysis on two rats in different contexts ( Rosenzweig et al. 1972).

Learning, at some instance, is not also affected by new synapsis growth but by chemical changes in the existing synapsis. Long term potentiation is evident through surgical human brain tissue procedures (Chen et al. 1996). The learning strength in the connection involving neurons increases. This process in the brain parts with long term storage memories like the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, and thus the learning of new associations is involved with this.

There are different proposed hypothesis like that all learning experiences have an effect of producing neural changes distributed throughout all sections of the brain involving the physical and chemical changes and have support from classic experiments by Karl Lashley. The hypothesis localizes individual concepts of information and ideas concerning the storage of this in specifically tiny sections of the brain with the same category put together into a similar room. These hypotheses are partially correct because learning types cause changes in specific parts of the brain and the others in large brain portions.

The other trending idea about this journal is where complex ideas in the brain get stored. It responds through first a look on the James Mills’ concept done through an animals’ exposure to an apple showing that experience causes the development of recognition ability. The hypothesis of a specific memory and ideas are in small sections of the brain has also evidence here which is that of Penfield pioneering research although the interpretation to this is through many different ways that rendered their significance irrelevant. The best evidence to this was from patients suffering brain damage from accident or stroke.

They are thus learning concerns both human and animal behavior and the long-term changes to this. An adventure to this started from associationists where learning principles are connecting brain and ideas with thoughts. Policies such as contiguity, similarity and contrast are some. There is also a proposition of how ideas can become complicated. tIt is apparent that learning involves two main approaches which are behavioural and cognitive. Behaviouralists use animals in their general learning principles, and others argue that physical changes in the nervous system happen through education.

REFERENCES

James E Mazur (2016). Learning and Behavior. Routledge, Taylor and Francis group journal. Southern Connecticut State University. 7^. 395-396.