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Contemporary animal learning theory
96
ITNS
p. 75 which is virtually uninterpretable. Each chapter concludes with a comprehensive bibliography including many valuable references to the recent literature. For the editors responsible for producing review publications of this type every few years, it must be invariably difficult to decide what to include and what to omit. The emphasis of this volume, as its title
implies, is unashamedly clinical but relevant developments in neuroscience are mentioned whenever appropriate. It seems odd at first sight in a volume on recent advances that the paediatric neurology chapter should deal with topics as disparate as Reye's syndrome and Sturge-Weber disease, and that Professor Matthews should have chosen to include a section on Bell's palsy and its
Ideal introduction to learning theory Contemporary Animal Learning Theory
by Anthony Dickinson, Cambridge University Press, 1981. £12.50 (hard cover) £3.95 (paperback) (xii + 177 pages) 1SBN 0 521 23469 (hard cover); 0 521 29962 4 (paperback) Like many ethologists, I have always felt that my knowledge of animal learning is seriously deficient. But faced with the prospect of having to read innumerable accounts of apparently very similar experimental procedures, often couched in formidable jargon, I have reached for my rubber boots and sought solace in the open air and in the prejudice that psychologists do not study learning in a way that is relevant to the natural behaviour of animals. This is a book which, though it is not intended solely for ethologists, successfully dispels much of my ignorance as well as my
prejudice. The author begins by rejecting the behaviourist approach to learning and sets out, in just four chapters, to show how the mechanisms of learning provide an animal with a 'library' of relevant information about causal relationships between events that occur in its environment. In the first chapter he justifies his approach and outlines what he means by associative learning. The other three chapters discuss, in turn, the conditions under which learning occurs, evidence about the nature of the internal representation of stored information, and the properties of learning mechanisms. As the author readily admits, there are many aspects of animal learning that are not discussed, such as the acquisition of species-specific skills and language. His sole concern is to argue for the existence of a particular learning process, associative learning, which is common to all animals.
by Sybil Yeates, MTP Press Ltd, 1981. £7.95 (237pages) ISBN 0 85200 301 3 This well-written little volume entitled 'The Development of Hearing' should become one of the classics of audiology. It gives a beautiful account of the normal development of hearing, speech and language, hand in hand with descriptions of the consequences of hearing impairment. The approach is intensely human and intensely practical.Methods of testing the hearing of young children of various ages with simple equipment are described in detail. The importance of systematic tests of hearing and the valuable contributions of the 'peripatetic teacher' are emphasized. The book is oriented to the British system for delivery of health services, and the specific equipment and the tests that employ them are also entirely British, but this does not detract from the universal lessons that they
March 1082
management. Nevertheless, each contribution is useful and readable and the w)lume i> inexpensive. All neurologists will find some useful and topical information within its pages. JOHN ~ ' A L | ON
Professor of Neurology, Universi 0 oJ .Vew, a.~tle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon 7~vne, l.: K
His argument for the generality of such a process, on the grounds that all species face certain similar environmental problems, is a persuasive one, though such a concept has been anathema to many who study animals in their natural environment. This book is beautifully written. With immense care, the author takes the reader through descriptions of many complex experimental procedures, carefully selected to make salient points, and the many stages in the arguments that support his thesis. Very rarely does the reader get lost or confused. Although he adopts a clearly individualistic approach, Anthony Dickinson is always open-minded and manages to avoid being over-dogmatic. The length and price of this book, at least in paperback, make this an ideal introduction to learning theory for a student audience. T. R. tIALLIDAY
Lecturer in Biology at the Department of Biology, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA. U.K.
approximations that are justified in their contexts. Tim only real exception is the explanation of the bel, which is confusing teach. Most notable is the consideration at as well as inaccurate. The errors are comevery step of the reactions of parents when pounded by writing 'a whisper is about a confronted with the fact that their child's thousand times louder t h a n . . . ' where hearing is impaired. It also emphasizes the intensity (acoustic) is clearly what the importance of parental understanding and author intended, not the loudness (subjecco-operation in the appropriate manage- five) of the sensation. In the description of ment of the 'deaf' child. the sound level meter the weighting netAdditional chapters give simplifmd but work and dBA are ignored, but the peripateeffective accounts of the anatomy and tic teachers will undoubtedly muddle physiology of the ear, the physical nature of through. sound and speech, diseases of the middle Great emphasis is correctly placed on the ear, a helpful account of major genetic and desirability of identifying the heating other causes of hearing loss, the care and impaired infant early and starting to use performance of hearing aids, and a little amplification by 7 months of age. The about audiometers. author is deeply committed to exploiting The book is ricMy illustrated with photo- residual hearing and educating the child by graphs of children and of equipment and it the aural-oral, as opposed to the so-called is enlivened by continual references to 'total communication' method. So is the specific cases. All explanations are at a present reviewer, but fortunately the prolevel appropriate to a peripatetic teacher in portents of both the ctal and the total (domintraining and what she should later pass on to antly manual) methods agree on the imporconcerned parents. (The nearest equivalent tance of the early start. in U.S.A. to peripatetic teacher is 'clinical HALLOWELL DAVIS audiologist'.) Some of the simplifications Central lnstirute for the Deaf, 818 South Euclid, St. are considerable, hut are reasonable Louis, MO 63110, (ZS.A.
Audiological classic Studies in D e v e l o p m e n t a l Paediatrics, Vol. 2 T h e Development of Hearing
- -
ITNS
p. 75 which is virtually uninterpretable. Each chapter concludes with a comprehensive bibliography including many valuable references to the recent literature. For the editors responsible for producing review publications of this type every few years, it must be invariably difficult to decide what to include and what to omit. The emphasis of this volume, as its title
implies, is unashamedly clinical but relevant developments in neuroscience are mentioned whenever appropriate. It seems odd at first sight in a volume on recent advances that the paediatric neurology chapter should deal with topics as disparate as Reye's syndrome and Sturge-Weber disease, and that Professor Matthews should have chosen to include a section on Bell's palsy and its
Ideal introduction to learning theory Contemporary Animal Learning Theory
by Anthony Dickinson, Cambridge University Press, 1981. £12.50 (hard cover) £3.95 (paperback) (xii + 177 pages) 1SBN 0 521 23469 (hard cover); 0 521 29962 4 (paperback) Like many ethologists, I have always felt that my knowledge of animal learning is seriously deficient. But faced with the prospect of having to read innumerable accounts of apparently very similar experimental procedures, often couched in formidable jargon, I have reached for my rubber boots and sought solace in the open air and in the prejudice that psychologists do not study learning in a way that is relevant to the natural behaviour of animals. This is a book which, though it is not intended solely for ethologists, successfully dispels much of my ignorance as well as my
prejudice. The author begins by rejecting the behaviourist approach to learning and sets out, in just four chapters, to show how the mechanisms of learning provide an animal with a 'library' of relevant information about causal relationships between events that occur in its environment. In the first chapter he justifies his approach and outlines what he means by associative learning. The other three chapters discuss, in turn, the conditions under which learning occurs, evidence about the nature of the internal representation of stored information, and the properties of learning mechanisms. As the author readily admits, there are many aspects of animal learning that are not discussed, such as the acquisition of species-specific skills and language. His sole concern is to argue for the existence of a particular learning process, associative learning, which is common to all animals.
by Sybil Yeates, MTP Press Ltd, 1981. £7.95 (237pages) ISBN 0 85200 301 3 This well-written little volume entitled 'The Development of Hearing' should become one of the classics of audiology. It gives a beautiful account of the normal development of hearing, speech and language, hand in hand with descriptions of the consequences of hearing impairment. The approach is intensely human and intensely practical.Methods of testing the hearing of young children of various ages with simple equipment are described in detail. The importance of systematic tests of hearing and the valuable contributions of the 'peripatetic teacher' are emphasized. The book is oriented to the British system for delivery of health services, and the specific equipment and the tests that employ them are also entirely British, but this does not detract from the universal lessons that they
March 1082
management. Nevertheless, each contribution is useful and readable and the w)lume i> inexpensive. All neurologists will find some useful and topical information within its pages. JOHN ~ ' A L | ON
Professor of Neurology, Universi 0 oJ .Vew, a.~tle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon 7~vne, l.: K
His argument for the generality of such a process, on the grounds that all species face certain similar environmental problems, is a persuasive one, though such a concept has been anathema to many who study animals in their natural environment. This book is beautifully written. With immense care, the author takes the reader through descriptions of many complex experimental procedures, carefully selected to make salient points, and the many stages in the arguments that support his thesis. Very rarely does the reader get lost or confused. Although he adopts a clearly individualistic approach, Anthony Dickinson is always open-minded and manages to avoid being over-dogmatic. The length and price of this book, at least in paperback, make this an ideal introduction to learning theory for a student audience. T. R. tIALLIDAY
Lecturer in Biology at the Department of Biology, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA. U.K.
approximations that are justified in their contexts. Tim only real exception is the explanation of the bel, which is confusing teach. Most notable is the consideration at as well as inaccurate. The errors are comevery step of the reactions of parents when pounded by writing 'a whisper is about a confronted with the fact that their child's thousand times louder t h a n . . . ' where hearing is impaired. It also emphasizes the intensity (acoustic) is clearly what the importance of parental understanding and author intended, not the loudness (subjecco-operation in the appropriate manage- five) of the sensation. In the description of ment of the 'deaf' child. the sound level meter the weighting netAdditional chapters give simplifmd but work and dBA are ignored, but the peripateeffective accounts of the anatomy and tic teachers will undoubtedly muddle physiology of the ear, the physical nature of through. sound and speech, diseases of the middle Great emphasis is correctly placed on the ear, a helpful account of major genetic and desirability of identifying the heating other causes of hearing loss, the care and impaired infant early and starting to use performance of hearing aids, and a little amplification by 7 months of age. The about audiometers. author is deeply committed to exploiting The book is ricMy illustrated with photo- residual hearing and educating the child by graphs of children and of equipment and it the aural-oral, as opposed to the so-called is enlivened by continual references to 'total communication' method. So is the specific cases. All explanations are at a present reviewer, but fortunately the prolevel appropriate to a peripatetic teacher in portents of both the ctal and the total (domintraining and what she should later pass on to antly manual) methods agree on the imporconcerned parents. (The nearest equivalent tance of the early start. in U.S.A. to peripatetic teacher is 'clinical HALLOWELL DAVIS audiologist'.) Some of the simplifications Central lnstirute for the Deaf, 818 South Euclid, St. are considerable, hut are reasonable Louis, MO 63110, (ZS.A.
Audiological classic Studies in D e v e l o p m e n t a l Paediatrics, Vol. 2 T h e Development of Hearing
- -