Related topics: memory , brain , neurons , hippocampus , dementia
Learning
hideLearning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.
Human learning may occur as part of education or personal development. It may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. The study of how learning occurs is part of neuropsychology, educational psychology, learning theory, and pedagogy.
Learning may occur as a result of habituation or classical conditioning, seen in many animal species, or as a result of more complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals and humans. Learning may occur consciously or without conscious awareness. There is evidence for human behavioral learning prenatally, in which habituation has been observed as early as 32 weeks into gestation, indicating that the central nervous system is sufficiently developed and primed for learning and memory to occur very early on in development.
Play has been approached by several theorists as the first form of learning. Children play, experiment with the world, learn the rules, and learn to interact. Vygotsky agrees that play is pivotal for children's development, since they make meaning of their environment through play.
For more information about Learning, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with learning
Link Between Poor Sleep and Poor Learning in Older Adults Investigated
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are trying to decode why aging prevents sleep from enhancing memory. Rebecca Spencer, assistant professor of psychology, says she is trying to isolate ...
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Neuroscientists uncover possible basis of short-term memory
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 27, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (17) |
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Ben W. Strowbridge, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience and physiology/biophysics, and Phillip Larimer, PhD, a MD/PhD student in the neurosciences graduate program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, ...
As shuttle's career nears an end, NASA turns focus to satellites
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 26, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (8) |
2
NASA heads into 2010 with the bittersweet assignment of retiring the space shuttle after nearly three decades. But that's not all the agency has planned: There are also launches of three new satellites aimed at better understanding ...
Marketing Researcher Takes on Human Decision Making Process
Dec 23, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (4) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by Jesper Nielsen, a UA marketing professor and his colleague are shedding light on why people decide to avoid or gravitate to a consumer product.
Scientists discover how the brain encodes memories at a cellular level
Dec 23, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (36) |
17
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a major discovery in how the brain encodes memories. The finding, published in the December 24 issue of the journal Neuron, could eventually lead to the development ...
Understanding interaction in virtual worlds
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 23, 2009 |
3 / 5 (10) |
0
New cinema blockbuster, Avatar, leapt to the top of box office charts as soon as it came out — a stunning 3D realisation of an alien world. Our fascination with themes of escape to other fantastic places and the thrill of ...
Swimming Bacteria Could Become Model for Micromachines
Dec 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- UConn researchers say Spiroplasma's propulsion style is optimal for converting energy into motion.
Discovering addiction clues could help smokers kick the habit
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- If you've ever tried to quit smoking, understanding how you got hooked in the first place probably seems irrelevant. But University of Nebraska-Lincoln psychologist Rick Bevins believes those ...
How could Santa know if you've been good or bad?
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By using technology to detect guilty expressions, of course. CSIRO is using automated expression recognition technology to tell whether someone is in pain and, according to computer scientist, ...
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