CHAPTER X 



A BIOLOGICAL DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM OF 



LEARNING 



How do living things learn? Many would 

 answer this query by simply stating, "They don't" 

 but the steadily accumulating evidence of numer- 

 ous experiments indicates that the usual mode of 

 action in animals can be modified, — they learn to 

 act differently. This broader use of the word 

 "learning" is being applied to animals as well as 

 man. It is in this sense that we shall try to show 

 that animal experimentation has simplified the 

 problem of learning by discovering some of the 

 factors and limitations under which it seems to 

 take place although the question is far from being 

 solved. 



The same methods that have enabled man to 

 master so many of Nature's processes will event- 

 ually penetrate the mystery of the working of the 

 mind. The chief difficulty consists In finding 

 suitable methods but with the Impetus given to 

 this work by psychologists during the recent war, 

 new devices are rapidly being perfected. So rapid 

 has been the progress in the invention of special 



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