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Inferential Learning Theory Essay

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Learning

ABSTRACT

The concept of learning may be regarded as any process through which a system utilizes knowledge to improve its performance. As we move into the age of digital information, the rapid and explosive growth of external, as well as, internal data and information that organizations are faced with is a problem that they are currently trying to overcome. The ability to collect and store this data is far ahead of the ability to analyze and learn from it. The concept of learning will be examined from the perspective of the inferential learning theory. This theory examines the mix of input knowledge, background knowledge, learning objectives or goals and an inference process to obtain 'new' or 'learned' knowledge. …show more content…

The search also involves the use of "background knowledge", which is the relevant parts of the learners prior knowledge, and can utilize any type of inference, that is, any form of analogy, induction or deduction. According to the inferential theory of learning, the learning process is a cycle, and in each cycle, the learner analyzes the input information in terms of its background knowledge and its goals, and performs various inferences in order to generate new knowledge and/or a better form of knowledge.

This "new knowledge" may be provided from the environment or it may be generated through induction, deduction or analogy. It can be knowledge that was never known before, additional knowledge, or it can be a change in the belief in the knowledge already possessed. The ultimate learning capabilities of any learning system can be measured by what it can, or cannot change in its knowledge base, and what kinds of inference and knowledge transformations it is capable of performing.

There are several basic learning situations. These include 'rote' learning or learning by induction, in this process, the learning system obtains knowledge from the environment in a form that it can use directly, this information is memorized for later use. Learning by taking advice or explanation-based learning is another example of a learning process. In this situation, the learning system is given general-purpose advice that it must then transform into a format that

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