One-Trial Learning

One-Trial Learning

As its name suggests, the theory of one trial learning states that learning takes place in a single pairing of response and stimulus and is not strengthened over time by repeated exposure to a stimulus. Edwin Guthrie, the American psychologist behind this theory, did not believe in conditioned learning where a reward following a behaviour reinforces it. He believed that you learn from cues that come first and sort of “tell” you
to do a behavior.

For instance, if you are driving and hear a siren, all the other cars pull over, and then you are nearly run off the road by a speeding fire truck – the next time you hear a siren you will take it as a cue to pull over.