Arun-Kumar Tripathi (tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 08:55:20 +0100 (MET)
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 08:55:20 +0100 (MET) From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de> Subject: [ifets] "The Fundamentals of Learning"
*Sorry for cross Postings*
Dear Everybody on IFETS-FORUM,
Good Morning,
I would like to invite all of you to indulged in this discussions, re.
Fundamental of Learning. What is actually the Fundamentals?
E(dward) L. Thorndike (1874-1949), the American psychologist whose major
work was "The Fundamentals of Learning" (1932). Thorndike's experiments
on the behavior of cats and dogs that he placed in a "puzzle box"
convinced him that learning is improved when it produces a satisfactory
result.
Historians F.G. Alexander and S.T. Selesnick explain that it was
Thorndike, not Pavlov, who first formulated the mechanical principle of
connectionism: "When the result of an action is rewarding, it gratifies
the need that initiated the action (for example, hunger); this reinforces
the learned behavior pattern. Animals and humans learn through trial and
error. When a successful need-satisfying behavior pattern is finally
found by chance it is repeated and thus reinforced. This was Thornkike's
'law of effect,' which later Pavlov independently discovered and called
'reinforcement.' The connection thus established between action and
motivation was conceived as being merely a mechanical connection, although
Thorndike did not speculate as much as Pavlov did about the possible
neurophysiological basis of such connections. Thorndike consistently
emphasized motivational factors -- for example, the interest inherent in
the tasks and the degree of attention paid to them.
"Thorndike substantiated his formulations with animal experiments,
mainly with cats, and demonstrated that learning curves showed the influence
of repetitions on the speed of learning. His observations about learning by
trial and error and the repetition of successful actions have remained the
basis of all later learning theories."
Cheers
Arun
Below is a short introduction about myself...
Name: ARUN KUMAR TRIPATHI,c/o Braun,Luetgenholthauser Strasse 99
44225,Dortmund,Germany EDUCATOR: WEB SITE REVIEW WRITER
My short bio at http://www.bfranklin.com/gld98/tripathi.htm and I am an
Volunteer cum List Manager on Global Learn Day II Project and Join GLD-II
Ship at http://www.bfranklin.com/gld98/contents.htm and I wrote an
article "Internet in Education" at:http://www.gsh.org/wce/archives/tripathi.htm
E-mail: <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
Research Scholar Internet Search Expert
Department of Statistics EDRESOURCE Listserv Moderator
University Of Dortmund Internet Information Investigator
---------------------------------------------------------
Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
Email address for sending message to everyone on the list ifets@gmd.de
Forum's contact person ifets-info@gmd.de
Join/Leave Digest or Normal List http://ifets.gmd.de/maillist.html
---------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 17 Nov 1998 - 09:05:46 MET