Learning and Memory: An Integrated Approach

The cognitive movement of the 1960s led to a separation of learning and memory research. Learning research continued on animals, while human memory became a major part of cognitive psychology. Over the last decade, research on these two areas has been moving closer together as researchers understand both the cognitive and behavioural aspects. Most of the phenomena in animal learning and human memory can be understood as an adaptive response of the organism to the nature of its environment. This study is based on the integration of learning research on animals and memory research on humans. It contains a chapter on the neural bases of learning and demonstrates the adaptive character of learning and memory. Throughout the book there are discussions of new research on the biological bases of learning.