Associative learning is the classic form of learning typified by Pavlov's dog experiments. When a neutral conditioned stimulus (a stimulus that produces no natural response) is associated closely in time with a meaningful unconditioned stimulus (a stimulus that normally produces some natural response, called an unconditioned response) the animal will learn to respond to the once neutral stimulus as if it were the unconditioned stimulus. This learned response is called a conditioned response.

Hebbian learning is an example of associative learning, which occurs at the cellular level. It essentially requires that two (or more) stimuli occur at or near the same time as one another. In Hebb, they must also occur in proximity (i.e., amongst neurons that are connected, or near enough to each other to affect, or be affected by, the other).



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Sources &; Resources

• Associationist Theories of Thought