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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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“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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Perez, O. D., & Soto, F. A. (2020) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/1747021819899808 · Cited by 11
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
Morinay, J., Cauchard, L., Bize, P., & Doligez, B. (2020) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.559690 · Cited by 9
“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 10
“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
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
“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
“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
Perez, O. D., & Dickinson, A. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/807800 · Cited by 8
“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
“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 8
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
Seven Challenges for the Science of Animal Minds
Dacey, M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198928102.001.0001 · Cited by 6
Associative and temporal learning: New directions
Buhusi, C. V. (2014) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2014.01.005 · Cited by 6
Cognitive gadgets: A provocative but flawed manifesto
Giudice, M. D. (2019) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x19001134 · Cited by 6
Kaufmann, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.741579 · Cited by 6
“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 6
Diagnosing Newcomb’s Problem with Causal Graphs
Stern, R. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316847893.011 · Cited by 6
The evolution of cultural gadgets
Dor, D., Ginsburg, S., & Jablonka, E. (2019) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/mila.12250 · Cited by 6
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 4
“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
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
Metadata
- 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
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › 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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