A vigilance model for latent learning

The author proposes a heuristic model for latent learning. It is concluded that to regard academic learning as qualitatively different from other forms of learning is to deny evolutionary continuity. Academic learning is not a unitary process governed by a single set of parameters. In addition, it is observed that the problem of student motivation may very well turn out to be purely academic. The instructional technique for a captive audience of a class may be so structured as to make the direction of attention irresistible, the performance of a response, when needed, compelling, and the acquisition of knowledge inevitable. Vigilance is an instance of innate foundation. Its most striking characteristics are its universality in the animal world, its ready evocation by a wide range of stimuli, and its apparent behavioral and physiological manifestations. The last two are the natural resources for objective investigation, and the first may well be the basis of broad and valid generalizations.