Learning

Learning is the process of acquiring new <a href="/facts/Understanding/D8UXbWuJ">understanding</a>, <a href="/facts/Knowledge/joozoaup">knowledge</a>, <a href="/facts/Behavior/0Y1VqmVX">behaviors</a>, <a href="/facts/Skill/XKyAfgBg">skills</a>, <a href="/facts/Value_(personal_and_cultural)/f2RW9TXW">values</a>, <a href="/facts/Attitude_(psychology)/U9fTS27S">attitudes</a>, and <a href="/facts/Preference/hWCEmfuX">preferences</a>. The ability to learn is possessed by <a href="/facts/Human/rlcTENsr">humans</a>, non-human <a href="/facts/Animal/4b8J33nd">animals</a>, and some <a href="/facts/Machine_learning/e0w0XJTu">machines</a>; there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain <a href="/facts/Plant/X5BMDMvS">plants</a>. Some learning is immediate, induced by a single event (e.g. being <a href="/facts/Burn/EHdVoSxB">burned</a> by a <a href="/facts/Heat/FjDGssCs">hot</a> <a href="/facts/Stove/KlLJu3dz">stove</a>), but much skill and knowledge accumulate from repeated experiences. The changes induced by learning often last a lifetime, and it is hard to distinguish learned material that seems to be "lost" from that which cannot be retrieved.
Human learning starts at birth (it might even start before) and continues until death as a consequence of ongoing interactions between people and their environment. The nature and processes involved in learning are studied in many established fields (including <a href="/facts/Educational_psychology/AF8VsLRy">educational psychology</a>, <a href="/facts/Neuropsychology/eWY83ago">neuropsychology</a>, <a href="/facts/Experimental_psychology/sFaxwsJo">experimental psychology</a>, <a href="/facts/Cognitive_science/8qoggl7r">cognitive sciences</a>, and <a href="/facts/Pedagogy/t1LIfLeC">pedagogy</a>), as well as emerging fields of knowledge (e.g. with a shared interest in the topic of <a href="/facts/Safety/jyH5HLSg">learning from safety events such as incidents/accidents</a>, or in collaborative learning health systems). Research in such fields has led to the identification of various sorts of learning. For example, learning may occur as a result of <a href="/facts/Habituation/9junujEp">habituation</a>, or <a href="/facts/Classical_conditioning/ddtohoz3">classical conditioning</a>, <a href="/facts/Operant_conditioning/8TqfQQGq">operant conditioning</a> or as a result of more complex activities such as <a href="/facts/Play_(activity)/72zJ5jYn">play</a>, seen only in relatively intelligent animals. Learning may occur <a href="/facts/Conscious/IAxmgt6c">consciously</a> or without conscious awareness. Learning that an aversive event cannot be avoided or escaped may result in a condition called <a href="/facts/Learned_helplessness/m7obuyPx">learned helplessness</a>. There is evidence for human behavioral learning <a href="/facts/Prenatal/VpV3S4lu">prenatally</a>, in which <a href="/facts/Habituation/9junujEp">habituation</a> has been observed as early as 32 weeks into <a href="/facts/Gestation/QKgkykw5">gestation</a>, indicating that the <a href="/facts/Central_nervous_system/k8I6To97">central nervous system</a> is sufficiently developed and primed for learning and <a href="/facts/Memory/zucwQIEX">memory</a> to occur very early on in <a href="/facts/Developmental_psychology/Myy826TQ">development</a>.
Play has been approached by several theorists as a form of learning. Children experiment with the world, learn the rules, and learn to interact through play. <a href="/facts/Lev_Vygotsky/UFkx3NLV">Lev Vygotsky</a> agrees that play is pivotal for children's development, since they make meaning of their environment through playing educational games. For Vygotsky, however, play is the first form of learning language and communication, and the stage where a child begins to understand rules and symbols. This has led to a view that learning in organisms is always related to <a href="/facts/Semiosis/U5BS8euB">semiosis</a>, and is often associated with representational systems/activity.

Learning open-in-new

Learning