Associative learning

In this study, we demonstrate how an event that is initially frightening to Atlantic salmon is turned to a positive stimulus through habituation and associative learning. The study was carried out in four commercial sized tanks (5 m 3) with near industry densities ([550 fish, 16 kg m-3), using a delay conditioning procedure with an aversive flashing light as the conditioned stimulus and food reward as the unconditioned stimulus. By using video image analysis of the distribution of the fish in the tanks, the changes in behaviour from trial to trial could be documented in great detail. The current study documents the change in behaviour across the individual conditioning trials, clearly showing the step-by-step nature of the transition. The salmon needed more than 26 trials to become fully habituated to the flashing light but showed clear anticipatory behaviour already after about 19 trials. This demonstrates that the learning process is a combination of habituation and associative learning.

Rising life expectancies coupled with an increasing awareness of age-related cognitive decline have led to the unwarranted use of psychopharmaceuticals, including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), by significant numbers of healthy older individuals. This trend has developed despite very limited data regarding the effectiveness of such drugs on non-clinical groups and recent work indicates that AChEIs can have negative cognitive effects in healthy populations. For the first time, we use a combination of EEG and simultaneous EEG/fMRI to examine the effects of a commonly prescribed AChEI (donepezil) on cognition in healthy older participants. The short-and long-term impact of donepezil was assessed using two double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. In both cases, we utilised cognitive (paired associates learning (CPAL)) and electrophysiological measures (resting EEG power) that have demonstrated high-sensitivity to age-related cognitive decline. Experiment 1 tested the effects of 5 mg/per day dosage on cognitive and EEG markers at 6-hour, 2-week and 4-week followups. In experiment 2, the same markers were further scrutinised using simultaneous EEG/fMRI after a single 5 mg dose. Experiment 1 found significant negative effects of donepezil on CPAL and resting Alpha and Beta band power. Experiment 2 replicated these results and found additional drug-related increases in the Delta band. EEG/fMRI analyses revealed that these oscillatory differences were associated with activity differences in the left hippocampus (Delta), right frontal-parietal network (Alpha), and default-mode network (Beta). We demonstrate the utility of simple cognitive and EEG measures in evaluating drug responses after acute and chronic donepezil administration. The presentation of previously established markers of age-related cognitive decline indicates that AChEIs can impair cognitive function in healthy older individuals. To our knowledge this is the first study to identify the precise neuroanatomical origins of EEG drug markers using simultaneous EEG/fMRI. The results of this study may be useful for evaluating novel drugs for cognitive enhancement.

Reward is important for shaping goal-directed behaviour 1±4. After stimulus±reward associative learning, an organism can assess the motivational value of the incoming stimuli on the basis of past experience (retrospective processing), and predict forthcoming rewarding events (prospective processing) 1±5. The traditional role of the sensory thalamus is to relay current sensory information to cortex. Here we ®nd that non-primary thalamic neurons respond to reward-related events in two ways. The early, phasic responses occurred shortly after the onset of the stimuli and depended on the sensory modality. Their magnitudes resisted extinction and correlated with the learning experience. The late responses

Some researchers have suggested that although feedback may enhance performance during associative learning, it does so at the expense of later retention. To examine this issue, subjects (N = 258) learned Luganda-English word pairs. After 2 initial exposures to the materials, subjects were tested on each item several times, with the presence and type of feedback varying between subjects. A final test followed after I week. Supplying the correct answer after an incorrect response not only improved performance during the initial learning session-it also increased final retention by 494%. On the other hand, feedback after correct responses made little difference either immediately or at a delay, regardless of whether the subject was confident in the response. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

The occurrence of errors is often thought to impede associative learning. This was tested in 2 studies, each of which involved 2 sessions. In Session 1, subjects learned foreign vocabulary (Experiment 1) or obscure English words (Experiment 2) and received 2 tests (each with corrective feedback) separated by a variable lag. Greater lags drastically reduced performance on the 2nd test. However, they dramatically improved performance in a Session-2 test given 1 day (Experiment 1) or 1 week later (Experiment 2). This pattern held even for items that elicited errors on the 1st test of Day 1. Evidently, the benefit of spacing overwhelms any possible harmful effect of producing errors. The results have clear and nonobvious implications for computer-aided instruction.

Purpose-This research aims to examine the impact of celebrity credibility on consumer-based equity of the endorsed brand. The mediating role of brand credibility and the moderating role of the type of branding (parent versus sub-brand) employed by the endorsed brand on the endorser credibility-brand equity relationship are also to be examined. The endorser credibility-brand equity relationship was developed using associative learning principles whereas the brand signalling theory is applied to examine the mediating role of brand credibility. Design/methodology/approach-The conceptual framework was tested using a field experiment. Data were collected using a mall-intercept approach at a shopping centre from a sample of consumers in a metropolitan Australian city. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings-Results suggest endorser credibility has an indirect impact on brand equity when this relationship is mediated by brand credibility. This mediating relationship was moderated by type of branding. However, the "endorser credibility-brand credibility" and "endorser credibility-brand equity" relationships did not vary according to the type of branding employed. Practical implications-In support of past findings, the present study shows that a celebrity endorser should be one who is perceived as credible based on their attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness. Moreover, in this research, even a moderately low credibility endorser proved to be able to build the brand. Originality/value-The present study is one of the first to empirically examine and confirm the impact of endorser credibility on brand credibility and consumer-based brand equity.

A growing body of evidence suggests that the spatial and the temporal domains seem to share the same or similar conditions, basic effects, and mechanisms. The blocking, unblocking and overshadowing experiments (and also those of latent inhibition and perceptual learning reviewed by Prados and Redhead in this issue) show that to exclude associative learning as a basic mechanism responsible for

Is human Pavlovian conditioning driven by a unitary, propositional system (as claimed by or by dual systems; one under conscious control, symbolic in nature, and requiring effort to deploy, and the other utilizing associative processes and automatic in its operation ? Past research has suggested that for electrodermal conditioning to occur in humans, conscious awareness of the contingencies is necessary to produce conditioned responding (e.g., Hinchy, Lovibond, & Ter-Horst, 1995), as predicted by single process theories that attribute the conditioned response (CR) to conscious expectancy of the shock. In this article, the authors examined the Perruchet effect , using an electrodermal paradigm to determine whether there is any role for associative processes in human electrodermal conditioning. The authors attempted to replicate the basic effect, whereby expectancy of an unconditioned stimulus (US) increases over a run of nonreinforced trials while the CR to the conditional stimulus (CS) declines, and the complementary pattern in which expectancy decreases over a run of reinforced trials while the CR to the CS grows in strength. In line with these patterns, the change in skin conductance response (our CR) as a function of US run length was found to follow a linear trend opposite to that of conscious expectancy of shock with respect to US run length. This dissociation supports a dual-processing system account of human Pavlovian conditioning, with conscious, controlled processes governing expectancy (and subject to the gambler's fallacy), whereas automatic, associative processes determine at least some of the strength of the CR to the CS.

Imitation poses a unique problem: how does the imitator know what pattern of motor activation will make their action look like that of the model? Specialist theories suggest that this correspondence problem has a unique solution; there are functional and neurological mechanisms dedicated to controlling imitation. Generalist theories propose that the problem is solved by general mechanisms of associative learning and action control. Recent research in cognitive neuroscience, stimulated by the discovery of mirror neurons, supports generalist solutions. Imitation is based on the automatic activation of motor representations by movement observation. These externally triggered motor representations are then used to reproduce the observed behaviour. This imitative capacity depends on learned perceptual-motor links. Finally, mechanisms distinguishing self from other are implicated in the inhibition of imitative behaviour.

Studies on members of the crow family using the “Aesop’s Fable” paradigm have revealed remarkable abilities in these birds, and suggested a mechanism by which associative learning and folk physics may interact when learning new problems. In the present study, children between 4 and 10 years of age were tested on the same tasks as the birds. Overall the performance of the children between 5-7-years was similar to that of the birds, while children from 8-years were able to succeed in all tasks from the first trial. However the pattern of performance across tasks suggested that different learning mechanisms might be being employed by children than by adult birds. Specifically, it is possible that in children, unlike corvids, performance is not affected by counter-intuitive mechanism cues.

Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) are attracted to those particular inflorescences where other bees are already foraging, a process known as local enhancement. Here, we use a quantitative analysis of learning in a foraging task to illustrate that this attraction can lead bees to learn more quickly which flower species are rewarding if they forage in the company of experienced conspecifics. This effect can also be elicited by model bees, rather than live demonstrators. We also show that local enhancement in bumblebees most likely reflects a general attraction to conspecifics that is not limited to a foraging context. Based on the widespread occurrence of both local enhancement and associative learning in the invertebrates, we suggest that social influences on learning in this group may be more common than the current literature would suggest and that invertebrates may provide a useful model for understanding how learning processes based on social information evolve.

Mental imagery improves paired-associate (PA) learning relative to overt rehearsal. The effect might be due to increased reliability of stimulus encoding or to increased relational association produced by imagery. These hypotheses expect different outcomes when imagery and ...

From beverages to consumer electronics, marketers are using color in innovative ways. Despite this, little academic research has investigated the role that color plays in marketing. This paper examines how color affects consumer perceptions through a series of four studies. The authors provide a framework and empirical evidence that draws on research in aesthetics, color psychology, and associative learning to map hues onto brand personality dimensions (Study 1), as well as examine the roles of saturation and value for amplifying brand personality traits (Study 2). The authors also demonstrate how marketers can strategically use color to alter brand personality and purchase intent (Study 3), and how color influences the likability and familiarity of a brand (Study 4). The results underscore the importance of recognizing the impact of color in forming consumer brand perceptions.

Sleep spindles and rapid eye movements have been found to increase following an intense period of learning on a combination of procedural memory tasks. It is not clear whether these changes are task specific, or the result of learning in general. The current study investigated changes in spindles, rapid eye movements, K-complexes and EEG spectral power following learning in good sleepers randomly assigned to one of four learning conditions: Pursuit Rotor (n = 9), Mirror Tracing (n = 9), Paired Associates (n = 9), and non-learning controls (n = 9). Following Pursuit Rotor learning, there was an increase in the duration of Stage 2 sleep, spindle density (number of spindles/min), average spindle duration, and an increase in low frequency sigma power (12-14 Hz) at occipital regions during SWS and at frontal regions during Stage 2 sleep in the second half of the night. These findings are consistent with previous findings that Pursuit Rotor learning is consolidated during Stage 2 sleep, and provide additional data to suggest that spindles across all non-REM stages may be a mechanism for brain plasticity. Following Paired Associates learning, theta power increased significantly at central regions during REM sleep. This study provides the first evidence that REM sleep theta activity is involved in declarative memory consolidation. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that brain plasticity during sleep does not involve a unitary process; that is, different types of learning have unique sleep-related memory consolidation mechanisms that act in dissociable brain regions at different times throughout the night.

Neural network" models of brain function assume neurons and their synaptic connections to be the fundamental units of information processing, somewhat like switches within computers. However, neurons and synapses are extremely complex and resemble entire computers rather than switches. The interiors of the neurons (and other eucaryotic cells) are now known to contain highly ordered parallel networks of filamentous protein polymers collectively termed the cytoskeleton. Originally assumed to provide merely structural "bone-like" support, cytoskeletal structures such as microtubules are now recognized to organize cell interiors dynamically. The cytoskeleton is the internal communication network for the eucaryotic cell, both by means of simple transport and by means of coordinating extremely complicated events like cell division, growth and differentiation. The cytoskeleton may therefore be viewed as the cell's "nervous system". Consequently the neuronal cytoskeleton may be involved in molecular level information processing which subserves higher, collective neuronal functions ultimately relating to cognition. Numerous models of information processing within the cytoskeleton (in particular, microtubules) have been proposed. We have utilized cellular automata as a means to model and demonstrate the potential for information processing in cytoskeletal microtubules. In this paper, we extend previous work and simulate associative learning in a cytoskeletal network as well as assembly and disassembly of microtubules. We also discuss possible relevance and implications of cytoskeletal information processing to cognition.

Crows are passerine birds of genus corvus in family Corvidae. Current study was carried out on three species of crow, jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos), house crow (C. splendens) and jackdaw (C. monedula) present in district Mansehra, Pakistan. Crows were trapped for blood sampling. The total genomic DNA was isolated from the blood of each species. The RAPD -PCR analysis of isolated DNA was performed for genetic diversity estimation. All the amplification profiles were observed and genetic distances were estimated. Results of RAPD analysis revealed high level of genetic polymorphism among the three species. The average genetic distance estimates ranged from 50-90%. Phylogenetic relationship was elaborated through dendrogram which supports the genetics distances. The dendrogram showed that house crow and jungle crow share much genetic affinities to each other than to jackdaw. The results also revealed the RAPD markers as effective for such types of studies where an overall picture of genome is required.

This paper provides a historical review and empirical investigation of the availability and the effectiveness of different types of mediator in associative learning, as inferred from subjects' retrospective reports. Mental imagery is a preferred mediational strategy in the learning of pairs of common concrete nouns, and its use is associated with a high level of recall performance. Its availability and its effectiveness are both enhanced if subjects are given interactive imagery instructions. It is argued that retrospective mediator reports provide valid accounts of the cognitive processes that occur at the time of learning and that playa causal role in determining the subsequent level of retention.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate emotional associative learning to odors and subsequent behavioral effects. In Experiment 1, participants experienced a frustration mood induction in the presence of an unfamiliar ambient odor and later worked on puzzle tests in a room scented with either the sameodor, a different-odor, or no-odor. Participants in the same-odor condition spent significantly less time working on the tests than participants in the other conditions; however, test accuracy did not vary. To clarify the findings, Experiment 2 included a test-only control and an emotionally neutral same-odor conditions. Results were compatible with the conclusion that decreased time spent by participants in the negative-same-odor condition was due to emotions elicited by associative learning to the ambient odor, although alternative interpretations remain possible. These data extend our previous results with children and suggest that odors readily become associated to emotions and can thereby influence behavior.

Can direct change in state of consciousness through specific mental techniques extend human life and reverse age-related declines? To address this question, 73 residents of 8 homes for the elderly (mean age = 81 years) were randomly assigned among no treatment and 3 treatments highly similar in external structure and expectations: the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program, mindfulness training (MF) in active distinction making, or a relaxation (low mindfulness) program. A planned comparison indicated that the "restful alert" TM group improved most, followed by MF, in contrast to relaxation and no-treatment groups, on paired associate learning; 2 measures of cognitive flexibility; mental health; systolic blood pressure; and ratings of behavioral flexibility, aging, and treatment efficacy. The MF group improved most, followed by TM, on perceived control and word fluency. After 3 years, survival rate was 100% for TM and 87.5% for MF in contrast to lower rates for other groups.

The paper describes the physio-associative temporal sensors integration algorithm which is motivated by the observed function of the thalamus and utilizes signals theory mathematics to model how a human efficiently perceives information in the environment. The algorithm is consistent with that of an aircraft pilot; namely, to estimate, filter, and predict sensed afferent signals and produce efferent controls under dynamic

Life as a resource consumer/possessor is a superficial evaluation of people and "things". What carnal sight's misconception is that we're energy crystals belonging to network of energy levels corresponding to our consciousness. There are energy levels that are less dependent on material sources and more on intangibles of their own mental aesthetic obtained from cognitive associations from the mundane sensory reception subtly directed by subconscious's archive inputs.

As this level's "daily bread" is more versatile and fungible a raw energy than the form-bounded and use-specific physical 'matters' products of equally form constricted social and cultural, provincial paradigms of more dependent tangible forms.

The self-fulfilling and self-justifying paradigms create a matrix of a logic stream of consciousnesses that are a mantra opiate of affirming hypnotic incarcerating placentas on the resulting default caste of existence.

https://twitter.com/JacobinTrotsky/status/1509724976500424706

Celebrity worship is a form of parasocial interaction in which individuals become obsessed with 1 or more celebrities, similar to an erotomanic type of delusional disorder. Drawing on the cognitive factors implicated in erotomania, the authors hypothesized that celebrity worshippers might be expected to exhibit verbal, visuospatial, and cognitive deficits related to flexibility and associative learning. This general hypothesis was tested in a sample of 102 participants who completed the Celebrity Attitude Scale (L. E. McCutcheon, R. Lange, & J. . the Entertainment-Social, Intense-Personal, and Borderline Pathological subscales, and 6 cognitive measures that included creativity (verbal), crystallized intelligence, critical thinking, spatial ability, and need for cognition. The results were consistent with predictions and suggest that cognitive deficits only help facilitate an individual's susceptibility to engage in celebrity worship. The results are discussed in terms of the multivariate absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship.

According to the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM) the activation of persuasion knowledge and coping skills require awareness or recognition of a persuasive advertising attempt. This conceptual piece asks whether persuasion coping skills are activated for advertising or persuasive episodes in which individuals have no a priori knowledge. This manuscript puts forth a conceptual model combining schema theory, associative learning, and PKM, which offer alternative explanations of coping skill activation for embedded advertising episodes like advergames and in-game advertising, which have the appearance and features that distinguish them as distinctly different from traditional advertising.

According to a widely shared interpretation, research employing spontaneous-response false belief tasks demonstrates that infants as young as 15 months attribute (false) beliefs. In contrast with this conclusion, I advance an alternative reading of the empirical data. I argue that infants constantly form and update their expectations about others’ behaviour, and that this ability extends in the course of development to reflect an appreciation of what others can and cannot see. These basic capacities account for infants’ performance in spontaneous-response false belief tasks without the need to assume the existence of a cognitive module specific for mental state attribution. My proposal suggests a plausible explanatory strategy for the problem of the representational format of the information processed in spontaneous-response false belief tasks.

We propose that the isomorphism generally observed between the representations composing our momentary phenomenal experience and the structure of the world is the end-product of a progressive organization that emerges thanks to elementary associative processes that take our conscious representations themselves as the stuff on which they operate, a thesis that we summarize in the concept of Self-Organizing Consciousness (SOC).

EEG-fMRI Fusiform face area (FFA) Parahippocampal place area (PPA) Hippocampus Paired associate learning Newly acquired declarative memory traces are believed to be reactivated during NonREM sleep to promote their hippocampo-neocortical transfer for long-term storage. Yet it remains a major challenge to unravel the underlying neuronal mechanisms. Using simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings in humans, we show that sleep spindles play a key role in the reactivation of memory-related neocortical representations. On separate days, participants either learned face-scene associations or performed a visuomotor control task. Spindle-coupled reactivation of brain regions representing the specific task stimuli was traced during subsequent NonREM sleep with EEG-informed fMRI. Relative to the control task, learning face-scene associations triggered a stronger combined activation of neocortical and hippocampal regions during subsequent sleep. Notably, reactivation did not only occur in temporal synchrony with spindle events but was tuned by ongoing variations in spindle amplitude. These learningrelated increases in spindle-coupled neocortical activity were topographically specific because reactivation was restricted to the face-and scene-selective visual cortical areas previously activated during pre-sleep learning. Spindle-coupled hippocampal activation was stronger the better the participant had performed at prior learning. These results are in agreement with the notion that sleep spindles orchestrate the reactivation of new hippocampal-neocortical memories during sleep.

Classical conditioning of motor responses, such as the eyeblink response, is an experimental model of associative learning and of adaptive timing of movements. A conditioned blink will have its maximum amplitude near the expected onset of the unconditioned blink-eliciting stimulus and it adapts to changes in the interval between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Previous studies have shown that an eyeblink conditioning protocol can make cerebellar Purkinje cells learn to pause in response to the conditioned stimulus. According to the cerebellar cortical conditioning model, this conditioned Purkinje cell response drives the overt blink. If so, the model predicts that the temporal properties of the Purkinje cell response reflect the overt behaviour. To test this prediction, in vivo recordings of Purkinje cell activity were performed in decerebrate ferrets during conditioning, using direct stimulation of cerebellar mossy and climbing fibre afferents as conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. The results show that Purkinje cells not only develop a change in responsiveness to the conditioned stimulus. They also learn a particular temporal response profile where the timing, not only of onset and maximum but also of offset, is determined by the temporal interval between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.

The goal of this study was to investigate which working memory and long-term memory components predict vocabulary learning. We used a nonword learning paradigm in which 8-to 10-year-olds learned picture-nonword pairs. The nonwords varied in length (two vs. four syllables) and phonology (native sounding vs. including one Russian phoneme). Short, phonologically native nonwords were learned best, whereas learning long nonwords leveled off after a few presentation cycles. Linear structural equation analyses showed an influence of three constructs-phonological sensitivity, vocabulary knowledge, and central attentional resources (M capacity)-on nonword learning, but the extent of their contributions depended on specific characteristics of the nonwords to be learned. Phonological sensitivity predicted learning of all nonword types except short native nonwords, vocabulary predicted learning of only short native nonwords, and M capacity predicted learning of short nonwords but not long nonwords. The discussion considers three learning processes-effortful activation of phonological representations, lexical mediation, and passive associative learningthat use different cognitive resources and could be involved in learning different nonword types.

Does cognitive ability always correlate with a positive fitness consequence? Previous research in both vertebrates and invertebrates provides mixed results. Here, we compare the learning and memory abilities of Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata hybrid) and European honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica). The range of the Africanized honeybee continues to expand, superseding the European honeybee, which led us to hypothesize that they might possess greater cognitive capabilities as revealed by a classical conditioning assay. Surprisingly, we found that fewer Africanized honeybees learn to associate an odor with a reward. Additionally, fewer Africanized honeybees remembered the association a day later. While Africanized honeybees are replacing European honeybees, our results show that they do so despite displaying a relatively poorer performance on an associative learning paradigm.

An improved functional MRI (fMRI) method for the reduction of susceptibility artifacts has been utilized to measure blood oxygen leveldependent (BOLD) responses to acute cocaine administration in the human brain of cocaine users. Intravenous administration of cocaine (20 mg/70 kg) activated mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic projection regions and showed temporal positive or negative BOLD responses. These results obtained from human cocaine users supported the involvement of the dopaminergic pathway in cocaine addiction from animal models. In addition, the cocaine administration also induced activations in the hierarchical brain networks in the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) of the Brodmann area 10 (BA10) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). It is suggested that the dopaminergic pathways and the hierarchical brain networks may participate in mediating cocaine reward processes, associative learning, motivation, and memory in cocaine addiction in the human brain. D

Problem Gambling (PG) represents a serious problem for affected individuals, their families and society in general. Previous approaches to understanding PG have been confined to only a subset of the psychobiological factors influencing PG. We present a model that attempts to integrate potential causal factors across levels of organization, providing empirical evidence from the vast literature on PG and complimentary literatures in decision-making and addiction. The model posits that components are arranged systematically to bias decisions in favor of either immediately approaching or avoiding targets affording the opportunity for immediate reward. Dopamine, Testosterone and Endogenous Opioids favor immediate approach, while Serotonin and Cortisol favor inhibition. Glutamate is involved in associative learning between stimuli and promotes the approach

The results of a previous study have suggested that impaired performance on one neuropsychological test, CANTAB Paired Associates Learning (PAL), may serve as a marker for preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). In a group of individuals with 'questionable dementia', the baseline PAL performance was found to correlate significantly with subsequent deterioration in global cognitive function over an 8-month period. The present paper reports diagnostic outcome data for the same individuals 32 months after the first assessment and evaluates the predictive diagnostic utility of baseline neuropsychological measures. Thirty-two months after joining the study, 11 of the 43 'questionable dementia' patients met the criteria for probable AD diagnosis ('converters') and 29 remained free from AD ('non-converters'). Logistic regression analysis revealed that two tests of memory, in combination, could be used to predict a later diagnosis of probable AD with a high level of accuracy [¯2(3) = 47.054, p ! 0.0001]. As predicted, these tests are measures of visuospatial learning (CANTAB PAL) and, also, semantic memory (Graded Naming Test). These two tests in combination appear to be highly accurate in detecting cognitive dysfunction characteristic of preclinical AD. Using these tests, a simple algorithm is described for calculating, with 100% accuracy for this sample of 40 patients, the probability that an individual with mild memory impairments will go on to receive a diagnosis of probable AD.

The past 50 years have seen an accumulation of evidence suggesting that associative learning depends on high-level cognitive processes that give rise to propositional knowledge. Yet, many learning theorists maintain a belief in a learning mechanism in which links between mental representations are formed automatically. We characterize and highlight the differences between the propositional and link approaches, and review the relevant empirical evidence.

Is learning for assessment an inevitable outcome of assessment for learning? We plan to investigate on this -by showing the effects of traditional continuous assessment modes we have implemented, and inviting student opinions on an e-assessment proposal which was virtually tested in a university setup. Student's perceptions are checked in the case of traditional continuous assessment techniques vs. non continuous assessments and the effect tallied with the coursework marks obtained for two groups of students. Also classroom assessment vs. e-assessment options were posed to students who were exposed to the proposed e-assessment option and comments invited. In each case, the reasoning behind the choice of assessment and associated learning strategies are probed into. The e-assessment is proposed to implement continuous assessment especially for large classes and also as a medium to invoke a positive learning approach through the feedback mechanism available on the e-assessment tool. A simple algorithm is also proposed for essay e-assessment scoring.

Motivated by Japan's economic experiences and policy debates over the past two decades, this paper uses an open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to examine the volatility and welfare impact of alternative monetary policies. To capture the dynamic effects of likely structural breaks in the Japanese economy, we model agents' expectation formation process with an adaptive learning framework, and compare four Taylor-styled policy rules that reflect concerns commonly raised in Japan's actual monetary policy debate. We first show that imperfect knowledge and the associated learning process induce higher volatility in the economy, while retaining some of the policy conclusions from rational-expectations setups. In particular, explicit exchange rate stabilization is unwarranted, and under volatile foreign disturbances, policymakers should consider targeting domestic price inflation rather than consumer price inflation. However, contrary to results based on rational expectations, we show that even though highly inflation-sensitive rules do raise output volatility, they may nevertheless improve overall welfare in an adaptive learning setting by smoothing inflation fluctuations. Our findings suggest that previous policy conclusions that are based on partial equilibrium analyses, or that ignore likely deviations from rational expectations, may not be robust. JEL classification: D84; E52; F41 , and seminar participants at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and University of Washington for useful comments and suggestions. We also thank Arita Thatte for research assistance. Any remaining errors are our own.