The propositional nature of human associative learning

TLDR

For the past five decades, evidence has accumulated that associative learning depends on high‑level cognitive processes that generate propositional knowledge, yet many theorists still endorse an automatic link‑based mechanism. The study aims to characterize and highlight differences between propositional and link approaches and review relevant empirical evidence. The authors review empirical evidence comparing propositional and link approaches to delineate their distinctions. They conclude that learning arises from propositional reasoning cooperating with unconscious memory retrieval and perception, and that this framework preserves recent advances while providing a firmer foundation for future research.

Abstract

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. We conclude that learning is the consequence of propositional reasoning processes that cooperate with the unconscious processes involved in memory retrieval and perception. We argue that this new conceptual framework allows many of the important recent advances in associative learning research to be retained, but recast in a model that provides a firmer foundation for both immediate application and future research.