Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T10:36:27.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Proust effect and the evolution of a dual learning system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Helena Matute  and
Miguel A. Vadillo
Helena Matute
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Deusto University, 48080 Bilbao, [email protected]://paginaspersonales.deusto.es/[email protected]://paginaspersonales.deusto.es/mvadillo
Miguel A. Vadillo
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Deusto University, 48080 Bilbao, [email protected]://paginaspersonales.deusto.es/[email protected]://paginaspersonales.deusto.es/mvadillo
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Proust's madeleine illustrates the automatic nature of associative learning. Although we agree with Mitchell et al. that no compelling scientific proof for this effect has yet been reported in humans, evolutionary constraints suggest that it should not be discarded: There is no reason by which natural selection should favor individuals who lose a fast and automatic survival tool.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 215 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gallistel, C. R. (2000) The replacement of general-purpose learning models with adaptively specialized learning modules. In: The new cognitive neurosciences, ed. Gazzaniga, M. S., pp. 1179–91. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lovibond, P. F. & Shanks, D. R. (2002) The role of awareness in Pavlovian conditioning: Empirical evidence and theoretical implications. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 28:3–26.Google Scholar
Proust, M. (1913/1922) Remembrance of Things Past: Swann's Way, trans. Scott-Moncrieff, C. K., Holt, Henry. (Original work published 1913). Retrieved online November 11, 2008, from Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7178).Google Scholar
Shanks, D. R. & St. John, M. F. (1994) Characteristics of dissociable human learning systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 17:367–447; discussion pp. 447–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (1992) The psychological foundations of culture. In: The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture, ed. Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J., pp. 19–136. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2005) Conceptual foundations of evolutionary psychology. In: The handbook of evolutionary psychology, ed. Buss, D. M., pp. 5–67. Wiley.Google Scholar