Associative learning and animal cognition
Open accessAbstract
Associative learning plays a variety of roles in the study of animal cognition from a core theoretical component to a null hypothesis against which the contribution of cognitive processes is assessed. Two developments in contemporary associative learning have enhanced its relevance to animal cognition. The first concerns the role of associatively activated representations, whereas the second is the development of hybrid theories in which learning is determined by prediction errors, both directly and indirectly through associability processes. However, it remains unclear whether these developments allow associative theory to capture the psychological rationality of cognition. I argue that embodying associative processes within specific processing architectures provides mechanisms that can mediate psychological rationality and illustrate such embodiment by discussing the relationship between practical reasoning and the associative-cybernetic model of goal-directed action.
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Dual-process or associative-cybernetic approaches of Dickinson and Balleine and colleagues posit separate and co-existing action and habit memories.
“It should be noted that the dual-process or “associative-cybernetic” approaches of Dickinson and Balleine and colleagues (e.g., Balleine & Ostlund, 2007; de Wit & Dickinson, 2009; Dickinson, 2012) do posit separate and co-existing action and habit memories.”
From Context, attention, and the switch between habit and goal-direction in behavior (2021) · cites this paper as Dickinson, 2012
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“…are only explanatory and evaluable in the context of specific models of psychological processes (see, for example, Anderson, 1978; Barsalou, 1990; Dickinson, 2012; Goldstone & Kersten, 2003; Johnson, 2015; Machery, 2009; Palmer, 1978; Schwartz & Sanchez Giraldo, 2017).17 I suggest, in contrast,…”
BackgroundKaplan, G. (2014) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1321 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Dawkins, M. S. (2023) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani13060988 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“The animal has to learn from its own experience how to reach rewards or avoid punishments [50,51].”
BackgroundEndocannabinoid signaling and memory dynamics: A synaptic perspective
Drumond, A., Madeira, N., & Fonseca, R. (2016) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2016.07.031 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Deliberation and Stability in Newcomb Problems and Pseudo-Newcomb Problems1
Joyce, J. M. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316847893.008 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Kurdi, B., Morehouse, K. N., & Dunham, Y. C. (2022) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000329 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“Broadly speaking, associative theories (e.g., Dickinson, 2012; Hebb, 1949; Papineau, 2003) posit that much of cognition, and even high-level thought, can be accounted for by relatively simple representations of the fact that two stimuli (such as bread and butter, illness and medicine, or lightning…”
BackgroundChallenges and advanced concepts for the assessment of learning and memory function in mice
Lang, B., Kahnau, P., Hohlbaum, K., Mieske, P., Andresen, N., Boon, M. N., Thöne‐Reineke, C., Lewejohann, L., & Diederich, K. (2023) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1230082 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“Associative learning is shown in various contexts, and it is a crucial mechanism for animals to adapt to their environments (Dickinson, 2012).”
Reinforcer predictability and stimulus salience promote discriminated habit learning.
Thrailkill, E. A., Michaud, N. L., & Bouton, M. E. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Learning and Cognition · doi:10.1037/xan0000285 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“This view has been incorporated into a dual-system theory as another cause of habit formation (Dickinson & Balleine, 1993; de Wit & Dickinson, 2009; Dickinson, 2012; Perez & Dickinson, 2020).”
BackgroundCognition and Adaptation to Urban Environments
Sol, D., Lapiedra, O., & Ducatez, S. (2020) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198836841.003.0015 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
The endocannabinoid system and associative learning and memory in zebrafish
Ruhl, T., Moesbauer, K., Oellers, N., & von der Emde, G. (2015) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2015.04.046 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
The Moderating Impact of Distal Regularities on the Effect of Stimulus Pairings.
Hughes, S., de Houwer, J., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2016) · Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000310 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“Likewise, while associations gradually develop with many experienced pairings (Dickinson, 2012; Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2011) propositions can be formed on the basis of direct training or inferred via”
BackgroundPolilov, A. A., Makarova, A. A., & Kolesnikova, U. K. (2018) · Arthropod Structure & Development · doi:10.1016/j.asd.2018.11.008 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Group size and associative learning in the Australian magpie (Cracticus tibicen dorsalis)
Mirville, M. O., Kelley, J. L., & Ridley, A. R. (2016) · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2062-x · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Removing consecutive lids of the rewarded colour (yellow) and not those of the unrewarded colour (blue) involves successfully associating a lid colour with a reward and thus reflects associative learning (Heyes and Galef 1996; Boogert et al. 2011; Dickinson 2012; Morand-Ferron et al. 2015).”
Dickinson, A., & Perez, O. D. (2018) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-812098-9.00001-2 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationInterindividual variation in learning ability in honeybees
Tait, C. D., Mattise-Lorenzen, A., Lark, A., & Naug, D. (2019) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2019.103918 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Kuszewska, K., Miler, K., Filipiak, M., & Woyciechowski, M. (2016) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-016-1000-7 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Understanding the mechanisms of animal associative learning and memory is an important aspect of neurobiology and behavioural ecology (Thompson 1986; Dickinson 2012).”
Animal minds: from computation to evolution
Thornton, A., Clayton, N. S., & Grodzinski, U. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0270 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
AHA: A general cognitive architecture for Darwinian agents
Budaev, S. V., Giske, J., & Eliassen, S. (2018) · Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures · doi:10.1016/j.bica.2018.07.009 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“A similar distinction is made in the animal learning and cognition literature, e.g. between associative and cognitive (goal-directed) responses (Dickinson, 1985, 2012; Toates, 1997).”
BackgroundTison, R., & Poirier, P. (2021) · Ecological Psychology · doi:10.1080/10407413.2021.1965480 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
A propositional perspective on context effects in human associative learning
Houwer, J. D. (2014) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2014.02.002 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Are There Differences in “Intelligence” Between Nonhuman Species? The Role of Contextual Variables
Colombo, M., & Scarf, D. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02072 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“We surely underestimate the power of simpler (but not simple) accounts such as associative learning or reinforcement-learning processes (Dickinson, 2012; Hanus, 2016; Haselgrove, 2016).”
BackgroundDirect Human-AI Comparison in the Animal-AI Environment
Voudouris, K. N., Crosby, M., Beyret, B., Hernández‐Orallo, J., Shanahan, M., Halina, M., & Cheke, L. G. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.711821 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“…as the training data (i.i.d., independent and identically distributed), it is impossible to distinguish between an agent that genuinely knows how to solve a problem and one that is using problem-irrelevant shortcuts to maximize reward (also Dickinson, 2012 for a perspective from animal psychology).”
Farrar, B. G., Ostojić, L., & Clayton, N. S. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256607 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“In animal cognition research, evolutionary theory [77], and learning theory [78,79], are two possible sources of strong theory to ground research programmes in, and tools and tutorials for using theories like this in study design and analysis are increasingly available [80,81].”
BackgroundInvasive ant learning is not affected by seven potential neuroactive chemicals
Galante, H., & Czaczkes, T. J. (2023) · Current Zoology · doi:10.1093/cz/zoad001 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Once linked, sensing the conditional stimulus results in a similar response to the one caused by the unconditional stimulus (Pavlov 1927; Rescorla and Wagner 1972; Dickinson 2012).”
BackgroundDistinct Functional Microcircuits in the Nucleus Accumbens Underlying Goal-Directed Decision-Making
West, E. A., Moschak, T. M., & Carelli, R. M. (2018) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-812098-9.00009-7 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Tyramine and its Amtyr1 receptor modulate attention in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
Latshaw, J. S., Mazade, R. E., Petersen, M., Mustard, J. A., Sinakevitch, I. G., Wissler, L., Guo, X., Cook, C. N., Lei, H., Gadau, J. R., et al. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.83348 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Evidence for a dissociation between causal beliefs and instrumental actions
Perez, O. D., & Soto, F. A. (2020) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/1747021819899808 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Direct Human-AI Comparison in the Animal-AI EnvironmentPreprint
Voudouris, K., Crosby, M., Beyret, B., Hernández‐Orallo, J., Shanahan, M., Halina, M., & Cheke, L. G. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/me3xy · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Morinay, J., Cauchard, L., Bize, P., & Doligez, B. (2020) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.559690 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Such associative learning process is widespread in the animal kingdom (Dickinson, 2012; Morand-Ferron et al., 2015) and should underlie many behavioral decisions during the breeding season, especially those involving repeated individual actions, such as here the visit of many nest boxes needed to associate the symbol…”
BackgroundIntergenerational effects of overfeeding on aversive learning in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Anwer, H., Mason, D., Zajitschek, S. R. K., Hesselson, D., Noble, D. W. A., Morris, M. J., Lagisz, M., & Nakagawa, S. (2022) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.9423 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Animal models are often used in experiments using obesogenic diets to investigate the underpinnings of detrimental effects on animal cognition (Castanon et al., 2015; Dickinson, 2012).”
BackgroundSuccess-First Decision Theories
Greene, P. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316847893.007 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Learning capacities and welfare in an Antillean manatee, Trichechus manatus manatus
Hénaut, Y., Lara-Sánchez, L. E., Morales‐Vela, B., & Machkour‐M’Rabet, S. (2020) · Comptes Rendus Biologies · doi:10.5802/crbiol.6 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Associative learning that consists in the association of two different elements [2] is particularly relevant for the study of animal cognition [3].”
BackgroundKhan, S. R., Al-Shidaifat, A., & Song, H. (2022) · Micromachines · doi:10.3390/mi13101744 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Associative memory is the most fundamental and widespread form of learning both for humans and animals [18].”
BackgroundFrom Teleonomy to Mentally Driven Goal-Directed Behavior: Evolutionary Considerations
Jablonka, E., & Ginsburg, S. (2023) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/14642.003.0010 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Perez, O. D., & Dickinson, A. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/807800 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“To address this issue, one possibility is embedding the associative representation within a cognitive architecture that implements a process of practical inference to derive an action intention (Dickinson, 2012).”
BackgroundSelf-citationLaying Hens: Why Smothering and Not Surviving?—A Literature Review
Mazocco, C. C., Júnior, S. L. D. C., Silveira, R. M. F., Poletto, R., & da Silva, I. J. O. (2024) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani14111518 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Genetic composition, negative experiences encountered from an early stage, and associative learning experiences are elements that have the potential to impact the level of fear in an animal [39].”
BackgroundBertran‐Gonzalez, J., Dinale, C., & Matamales, M. (2023) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.020 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Cortico‐striatal white‐matter connectivity underlies the ability to exert goal‐directed control
van Timmeren, T., van de Vijver, I., & de Wit, S. (2024) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.16456 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Seven Challenges for the Science of Animal Minds
Dacey, M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198928102.001.0001 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Associative and temporal learning: New directions
Buhusi, C. V. (2014) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2014.01.005 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Cognitive gadgets: A provocative but flawed manifesto
Giudice, M. D. (2019) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x19001134 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Kaufmann, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.741579 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“When we act, we act across time, and human beings along with many other species, are capable of producing and expressing complex intentional structures for action (Dickinson, 2012).”
BackgroundRelating different perspectives on how outcomes of behavior influence behavior
Houwer, J. D., Finn, M., Boddez, Y., Hughes, S., & Cummins, J. D. (2023) · Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior · doi:10.1002/jeab.887 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Diagnosing Newcomb’s Problem with Causal Graphs
Stern, R. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316847893.011 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The evolution of cultural gadgets
Dor, D., Ginsburg, S., & Jablonka, E. (2019) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/mila.12250 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Similarity and structured representation in human and nonhuman apes
Hodgetts, C. J., Close, J., & Hahn, U. (2023) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105419 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“The same is ultimately true of the kinds of conjunctive coding schemes that are popular in associative and connectionist models (Blumberg & Sokoloff, 2001; Dickinson, 2012; Gluck & Bower, 1988).”
Bhardwaj, K., Semenov, D., Šotner, R., & Majumdar, S. (2025) · International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies · doi:10.1109/mocast65744.2025.11083932 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Ahmed, A., Bermúdez, J. L., Andreou, C., Fusco, M., Grafstein, R., Greene, P., Joyce, J. M., Price, H., Liu, Y., STALNAKER, R. C., et al. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316847893 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dickinson, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Dickinson, Anthony
- ORCID
- Dickinson, Anthony
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2012-10-05
- Volume
- 367
- Issue
- 1603
- Pages
- 2733-2742
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC3427555
- OpenAlex
- W2096798307
- Cited by
- 219
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- associative learning, animal cognition, associative representations, prediction error, embodiment, practical reasoning, goal-directed action, cybernetic model
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Association Learning, Behavior, Animal, Cognition, Conditioning, Psychological, Cybernetics, Habits, Memory, Rationalization, Reinforcement, Psychology, Computational Biology
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