連合論的学習心理学と比較認知科学の断絶と接点

抄録

Associative learning has contributed to the advancement of understanding animal cognition. This approach has proposed useful models of the underlying mechanisms in the acquisition of behaviors, whereas comparative cognitive science provides explanations on animal cognition from evolutionary perspectives. In this article, I first demonstrate evidence to the value of the associative learning mechanisms in the explanation of the blocking and backward blocking phenomena (retrospective revaluation) in both humans and nonhuman animals. Then, I review a study of episodic-like memory in western scrub jays in order to show methodological and theoretical linkages between associative learning and comparative cognitive science. Although levels of explanation in cognitive processes studied in the two approaches seem to be different, I conclude that associative learning can provide valuable simple accounts on various issues in studies of comparative cognitive science. The integration of the two approaches will be critical to the further advancement of studies of animal psychology.