Fourness within Patterns of Learning

Learning can be said to occur when there is any relatively 'permanent' adaptive change in behavior as a result of past experiences...in other words when we static latch onto dynamic happenings of quality that occur within our environment. Four catagories can be distinguished.

1) The most universal type is habituation, defined as the waning of response as a result of repeated stimulation not reinforced by any predicted result. An example is the story of the boy who cried wolf, and then perished when he really needed adaptive behavior from his fellow humans, but failed to stimulate it on account of the habituation he had formed by crying wolf needlessly.

2) In all animals, innate patterns of motor activity appear as the individual grows up. While some patterns are learned by observing, these patterns are seemingly inborn yet improve with maturation. A young bird learning to fly is an example of this. The ability to fly is inborn, yet the bird needs a certain level of maturity to attempt the feat. They are not taught to fly, but must test their wings on their own when the time comes.

3) Animals may come to respond to a stimulus with a reaction to a stimulus that normally evokes a different reaction. This type of learning can occur if a new stimulus is applied at the same time as, or directly before, the original one. Pavlov's Dog is an example of this type of learning pattern.

4) As well as learning to respond to a particular stimulus after they receive it, animals also learn to behave in a way that they may reach a goal as a result of their activities. The association of a pattern of movement with a reward or with avoidance of punishment usually seems to happen via a trial and error method, but MoQ teaches us it occurs because of value contained in the universe.

Our notion of evolution is contained within these learning patterns. In both trial and error and insight learning, existing patterns are integrated within new, higher level patterns already in existence but lacking awareness. This integration occurs only in 'jumps' or leaps. This is true of all the levels within MoQ and is contained within the geological record of the earth as well.


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