Another similar study on the influence of biological preparedness in learning phobias is the study conducted by Minoke. In the study, monkeys were given 3 different type of stimulus: a toy snake, a gun and a flower. The monkeys were then classical conditioned to fear the 3 different type of stimulus. The results showed that the monkeys were more afraid of a toy snake than the gun or the flower. This depicts the biological preparedness in the monkeys. If there were no biological preparedness in the monkeys, they would have equally feared the toy snake, gun and flower, but that was not the case. This study was conducted on animals (monkeys), and they were conditioned to develop phobias. Hence, it is unethical, due to the use of animals, and also the fact that the monkeys developed phobias towards a particular type of stimulus. Nevertheless, this study conducted by Minoke suggests the role of biological preparedness in learning, in the learning perspective.
Imprinting is another concept that portrays the role of biological factors in learning. A study that was conducted by Lorenz on the imprinting of duck, illustrates this point. In the study, duck hatchings were taught to imprint to Lorenz, and then to a moving ball. Lorenz discovered that ducklings would imprint to the first moving object that they see, but there is a "sensitive period" for this to occur. Ducks seem to possess an innate mechanism which allows them to learn imprinting. Thus, imprinting is another example which portrays the biological influences on learning. This study is considered unethical, due to the imprinting of ducks to inanimate objects, such as a ball. This could have caused harm to the ducklings later on in their lives.
Breland and Breland conducted a study on trying to condition pigs to place coins in a piggybank. Food acted as a reinforcer in the study. Naturally, pigs are easy to be conditioned, and they performed the act of picking up a coin and placing it in the piggybank. However, after a period of time, the pigs' performance began to slow down. Breland and Breland entitled this as 'instinctual drift', which means that the pigs' artificially learnt behaviour, reverted back to their original behaviour, which was burying the coins. This study suggests that pig's biological makeup affected their ability to learn and retain their artificially learnt behaviour.
Another biological factor which contributes to the explanation of behavioural changes in the learning perspective is the proposed language acquisition device (LAD) as proposed by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky suggested that humans have an innate mechanism, known as the LAD, which helps us to acquire language. A case study on a girl known as Genie, illustrates the role of the LAD. Genie was locked up in a room away from human contact since birth for 13 years. Genie was able to acquire language, but lacked the normal linguistic abilities, which suggests that there is a 'sensitive period' for language acquisition, rather than a 'critical period' as proposed by Lenneberg. The case study was based on a single individual, which is not a representative sample. However, it does provide detailed information on how humans acquire language. All languages which we learn (Engish, French, etc) is culturally determined, but all human languages are dependent on a common structure, which rely on our LAD. Our ability to learn such a huge complex system of words and sentences is believed to be biologically determined. Thus, there is considerable evidence which suggests that biological factors constrain or set limits to a large extent on many types of early behaviour.
Cognitive elements, such as cognitive maps contribute to the explanation of behaviour changes in the learning perspective. The concept of cognitive maps was proposed by Edward Tolman, who conducted research on rats. In the well-controlled settings of the experiment, rats were placed in a maze, which led to two endings- the left arm led to food and the right arm led to water. When the rats were neither hungry nor thirst, they went to either arm of the maze. However, when the rats were hungry, they went straight to the left arm for food, and similarly when they were thirst they went to the right arm. The results showed that the rats developed a type of mental representation of the place, which is known as cognitive maps. Thus, this portrays the influence on cognitive factors, such as cognitive maps on learning, and that learning is more than a series of stimulus-response associations.
Kohler's studied chimpanzees and how they solved problems. In the study, Kohler hung bananas on the top of a cage and then the chimpanzees were given a large box and a long stick. The chimpanzees solved the problem by standing on the large box and using the stick to poke the bananas until it dropped down. Kohler believed that the chimpanzees made mental representations of what would be a successful solution to the problem. He further developed the concept of 'insight', which was the chimpanzee's solution to the problem, by a sudden thought of a solution that had emerged. Furthermore, Kohler noted that the chimpanzees had few trial and errors, which refuted the trial and error theory proposed by Edward Thorndike. Thus, this study illustrates that cognitive factors influences behaviour changes, to a large extent, in the learning perspective.
Studies on biological and cognitive factors, such as biological preparedness, imprinting, phobias, instinctual drift, the LAD, cognitive maps and the insight theory shows that it contributes to the explanation of behavioural change, in the learning perspective. It shows that learning is not simply a stimulus-response association, as proposed by traditional learning theory. Hence, biological and cognitive elements play an important role, to a large extent, in explaining behaviour, in the learning perspective.