Insight Learning

Wolfgang Kohler demonstrated a form of learning that could not be readily explained by ordinary conditioning. In a series of experiments, he placed chimpanzees in an enclosed play area where food (such as a banana) was kept just out of reach, while tools such as poles and boxes were made available inside the enclosure. The chimpanzees rapidly learned to use a box to stand on, or a pole to reach and move the food closer. Crucially, this learning did not happen through gradual trial and error followed by reinforcement, in the way a rat slowly learns to press a lever. Instead, the chimpanzees would roam the enclosure for a period showing no apparent progress, and then would suddenly stand on a box, grab a pole, and strike the food — a solution that appeared abruptly, in what Kohler called a "flash of insight." He named this phenomenon insight learning — the process by which the solution to a problem suddenly becomes clear. …