Foundations and Types of Learning

Definition and scope of learning

Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behavior, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. It is found in humans, many other animals, and some machines, and there is evidence that some plants can show learning-like changes. Learning can be immediate after a single event (e.g., withdrawing after being burned), but many skills and knowledge develop through repeated experience, with changes often lasting for a lifetime and being difficult to distinguish from information that cannot be retrieved. The scope of learning includes both conscious and unconscious forms and spans multiple mechanisms and contexts. Learning can occur through non-associative processes (such as habituation and sensitization), associative processes (such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning), and social mechanisms (such as observational learning and imprinting). It also includes broader developmental and cultural processes like play and enculturation, and it is studied across disciplines including educational psychology, neuropsychology, experimental psychology, cognitive science, and pedagogy. Learning is further shaped by factors such as instructional techniques, genetics, socioeconomic and physical conditions, psychological and epigenetic influences, and differences between adult and children’s learning.

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Conscious versus unconscious learning

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