Integrating niche-related and general process approaches in the study of learning

For nearly a century the experimental analysis of learning in animals has b een divided into niche-related and general-process approaches, each emphasi zing different procedures and conceptual strategies. After considering seve ral current forms of rapprochement, I outline evidence for the integrative hypothesis that niche-related learning provides the basis for results in tr aditional general-process learning paradigms. Although the full ramificatio ns of this View are not developed here, its advantages include: a clearer r elation between laboratory and field results, conceptual and pragmatic guid ance in developing new paradigms, and applying old ones to different specie s, and circumstances: clarification of the laws, limits, and anomalies in g eneral-process paradigms: and a more efficient path for inter-relating the study of learning with neurophysiology, genetics, and evolution. (C) 2001 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.