Time in Associative Learning: A Review on Temporal Maps

Ability to recall the timing of events is a crucial aspect of associative learning. Yet, traditional theories of associative learning have often overlooked the role of time in learning association and shaping the behavioral outcome. They address temporal learning as an independent and parallel process. Temporal Coding Hypothesis is an attempt to bringing together the associative and non-associative aspects of learning. This account proposes temporal maps, a representation that encodes several aspects of a learned association, but attach considerable importance to the temporal aspect. A temporal map helps an agent to make inferences about missing information by applying an integration mechanism over a common element present in independently acquired temporal maps. We review the empirical evidence demonstrating the construct of temporal maps and discuss the importance of this concept in clinical and behavioral interventions.

Automated summary

Recalling the timing of events is crucial in associative learning, however traditional theories often overlook the role of time. The Temporal Coding Hypothesis aims to integrate associative and non-associative aspects of learning by proposing temporal maps, emphasizing the importance of time in learning associations. These temporal maps help agents make inferences about missing information by applying an integration mechanism over independently acquired maps.