Learning & Behavior
How does experience change behavior?
Experience can change what we notice, expect, choose, and know how to do. Learning research asks how these changes occur, how we distinguish learning from temporary changes in performance, and why what we learn sometimes transfers, persists, or returns.
This area brings together learning about events, learning through consequences, learning from other people, and acquiring skills through practice. Its reading paths compare explanations and the evidence that could distinguish them. Begin with How Does Experience Change Behavior? for a foundation across these questions.
Start here
How Does Experience Change Behavior?
Ten readings on what counts as learning, how events and consequences matter, what observation and practice accomplish, and why learning depends on context.
Introductory · 10 core readings · 5 units · Prerequisites: No specialist learning course is required. How to Read Psychological Science is useful preparation for comparing arguments and experiments. Some readings use technical terms and statistical tables. The guides introduce the vocabulary; begin by identifying the comparison and the behavior measured.
Begin the syllabus →Additional syllabi
How Do We Learn What Predicts What?
How cues acquire predictive significance, how prior learning shapes attention and generalization, and what distinguishes associative from inferential explanations.
Intermediate · 10 readings
How Do Consequences Shape Action?
How consequences alter behavior, how schedules and alternatives shape responding, and how experiments distinguish action–outcome control from habit.
Intermediate · 9 readings
How Do We Learn From Other People?
A guided path through the mechanisms of learning from others: what is acquired, how demonstrations and instruction matter, and when another person is a useful source.
Intermediate · 9 readings
How Does Practice Build Skill?
Examine how practice produces lasting skill, why immediate improvement can mislead, and when learning transfers to new tasks.
Intermediate · 9 readings
Why Does Learned Behavior Persist—and When Does It Change?
Examine why behavior can decline while earlier learning still matters, compare explanations of its return, and ask what evidence would establish lasting change.
Intermediate · 8 readings