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The first text to integrate behavioral and cognitive approaches to learning and memory, this engaging textbook emphasizes human research, reflecting the field's evolution. Learning and Memory also recognizes the vital contribution of animal research, covering all historically important studies. Written in a lively and conversational style, this second edition encourages students to think critically. One example is its exploration of the Rescorla-Wagner model, the most important theory of conditioning, now further streamlined to improve student comprehension. Another is the addition of critical-thinking questions, which encourage students to evaluate their reactions to the material they've read, and relate findings to their own lives. Research includes an emphasis on practical applications such as treatments for phobias, addictions, and autism; the arguments for and against corporal punishment; whether recovered memories and eyewitness testimony should be believed; and effective techniques for studying. The text concludes with an overview of neural networks and deep learning.
List of contents
Part I. Learning: 1. Core Assumptions; 2. Classical Conditioning; 3. Conditioning Principles and Theories; 4. Conditioning Applications; 5 Reinforcement; 6. Reinforcement Applications; 7. Punishment; 8. Theories of Reinforcement; Part II. Memory: 9. Memory: An Introduction; 10. Working Memory; 11. Long-term Memory; 12. Retrieval; 13. Applications; Part III. Neural Foundations: 14. From Neurons to Neural Networks.
About the author
David A. Lieberman was an undergraduate at Columbia University and received his Ph.D. from Brown University. He taught for four years at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he was twice selected as the 'most stimulating' teacher in psychology in university polls of graduating seniors. He then moved to the University of Stirling in Scotland where his course on learning received the highest student ratings of any course in psychology. He served two terms as Associate Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology and was one of only two psychology members of the SERC panel – the UK equivalent of the US National Science Foundation – that awarded research grants in psychology. He is the author of Learning and the Control of Behavior (1974), Learning: Behavior and Cognition (1999), and Human Learning and Memory (2012).
Summary
An engaging introduction to learning and memory that encourages critical thinking while providing stimulating material on human research and how it can be applied. Examples include behavioral treatments of autism, recovered memory, and improving studying. The text concludes with the remarkable achievements of neural networks and deep learning.
Additional text
'Lieberman provides an excellent introduction to the psychological science of learning and memory, from historical developments to current research. He also shows how this knowledge can be used to understand behavior in the real world. The breadth of coverage is impressive; whereas most textbooks of this kind focus mostly on either learning or memory, Lieberman covers both in equal depth. His conversational style makes this a very accessible read.' John Green, University of Vermont
Report
'This undergraduate textbook is remarkable. To my knowledge no other book provides such a comprehensive coverage of the topics of learning and memory. Moreover, this unique breadth of coverage has not been gained by treating topics superficially. Quite the contrary, from start to finish readers are provided with a detailed understanding of all the major issues that have confronted the study of learning and memory. Finally, the foregoing achievements are crowned by the wonderful manner in which the book is written. The reader is treated as an equal to the author, and even complex issues, such as formal models of learning, are presented in a clear and engaging manner that sets this book head and shoulders above other undergraduate texts on learning and memory.' Professor John Pearce, Cardiff University, Fellow of the Royal Society
