Author: Staddon, J. E. R.
Bradford Book; Hardback; Book; 156 Illustrations
440 pages
Published: July 2001
The MIT Press
ISBN: 0262194538

In this book J. E. R. Staddon proposes an explanation of behavior that lies between cognitive psychology, which seeks to explain it in terms of mentalistic constructs, and cognitive neuroscience, which tries to explain it in terms of the brain. Staddon suggests a new way to understand the laws and causes of learning, based on the invention, comparison, testing, and modification or rejection of parsimonious real-time models for behavior. The models are neither physiological nor cognitive: they are behavioristic. Staddon shows how simple dynamic models can explain a surprising varietyof animal and human behavior, ranging from simple orientation, reflexes, and habituation through feeding regulation, operant conditioning, spatial navigation, stimulus generalization, and interval timThis text suggests a way to understand the laws and causes of learning based on the invention, comparison, testing, and modification or rejection of parsimonious real-time models for behaviour. The models are neither physiological nor cognitive: they are behaviouristic.