More than a century ago, Pavlov trained his dog to associate the sound of a bell with food. Ever since, scientists assumed the dog learned this through repetition: The more times the dog heard the ...

The ability to make the connection between an event and its consequences -- experts use the term associative learning -- is a crucial skill for adapting to the environment. It has a huge impact on our ...

Bread–butter. Bird–fly. Hot–cold. Sky–blue. These are just a few of the countless deep-seated associations we’ve all acquired in our prior experience. The basis of such associative learning is so ...

During associative learning, animals learn to change their behavior in response to a particular stimulus that would otherwise have a neutral influence on behavior. For example, if an animal such as a ...

Obesity leads to altered energy metabolism and reduced insulin sensitivity of cells. The so-called 'anti-obesity drugs' are increasingly used to treat obesity and have caused tremendous interest, ...