Accretion, Tuning and Restructuring: Three Modes of Learning
Abstract
It is somehow strange that throughout the recent work on semantic memory, the study of learning has been slighted. The term learning has fallen into disuse, replaced by vague references to “acquisition of information in memory. ” It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that the learning of some topic is no more than the acquisition of the appropriate set of statements about the topic by the memory system. According to this simple view of things, to have learned something well is to be able to retrieve it from memory at an appropriate time. We believe this view is much too simple. Learning can be more than the simple acquisition of statements. We believe it is time to examine learning again, to evaluate just what does happen when people acquire information about a topic and use it appropriately. The study of learning differs from the study of memory in its emphasis, not necessarily in content. Learning and memory are intimately intertwined, and it is not possible to understand one without understanding the other. But the difference in emphasis is critical. There are many different kinds of learning, and