Associative learning: the power of people
It is time we realize that the largest part of our learning and thinking is subconscious and that the computer is not a good metaphor for human learning and decision making. From research we know that people only learn substantially in reality when facing challenging problems. For rational decision making people own emotional feelings are crucial. The concept of the ´embodied mind´ expresses that learning is not an isolated brain activity focused on ´collecting knowledge´. The entire body is involved and the brain processes experiences in different ways and on different levels. Human performance is largely dependent of subconscious acts that are the result of complex patterns that experiences imprint on brain and body. This is called associative learning. The feeling of competence we experience when we perform successfully, plays a major role here. Developing expertise implies as a result of personal experience, looking ate reality in a goal oriented way. From the perspective of learning there is no substantial difference between learning in sports, on the job or in formal training. The challenge is to fully exploit the learning ability of people.