Animal Learning

Understanding why animals, including humans, behave as they do requires an appreciation for learning. Much of the history of animal learning has come from controlled laboratory experiments, coupled with careful field studies of natural behavior. Indeed, there are many approaches to understanding animal behavior, with equally many terms used to describe the endeavor: animal learning, animal cognition, comparative cognition, comparative ethology, and cognitive ethology, to name just a few. However, all these approaches have a foundation built on the principles of learning....

Understanding why animals, including humans, behave as they do requires an appreciation for learning. Much of the history of animal learning has come from controlled laboratory experiments, coupled with careful field studies of natural behavior. Indeed, there are many approaches to understanding animal behavior, with equally many terms used to describe the endeavor: animal learning, animal cognition, comparative cognition, comparative ethology, and cognitive ethology, to name just a few. However, all these approaches have a foundation built on the principles of learning. Traditionally, psychological approaches to understanding animal learning have been of a general processes nature. This can be seen with the classic Pavlovian, or classical, conditioning experiments of ringing bells and salivating dogs, paradigms known to a broad audience. These principles have been advanced and refined over the years. The field of animal learning has continued to grow and influence other areas of research. The first section of this bibliography provides general Textbooks that cover the topic of animal learning (and cognition), as well as a few specialized textbooks that discuss more-complex forms of cognition. Next, a selection of peer-reviewed Journals that publish in the area of animal learning, cognition, and behavior are presented, with a brief statement of interest. Finally, the remainder provides an introduction to a few central topics of animal learning and ends with a couple of examples of how the foundational understanding of the principles of learning has been applied to the study of specific topics.