What is Hebbian Learning?
Hebbian Learning explains how neurons adapt and form stronger connections through repeated use. Each time a memory is recalled or an action is repeated, the neural pathways involved become more robust as they fire together, making that action or memory more intuitive or easy to reproduce.
The Basic Idea
If you’ve ever tried to learn a new skill, you’ll have experienced Hebbian Learning (although you may have just thought of it as ‘learning’). Take driving, for instance. When you start out, everything you do is incredibly deliberate. You remind yourself to turn on your indicator, to check your blind spot, and so on. However, after years of experience, these processes become so automatic that you perform them without even thinking.
The neuroscientific concept of Hebbian learning was introduced by Donald Hebb in his 1949 publication of The Organization of Behaviour. Also known as Hebb’s Rule or Cell Assembly Theory, Hebbian Learning attempts to connect the psychological and neurological underpinnings of learning.
The basis of the theory is when our brains learn something new, neurons are activated and connected with other neurons, forming a neural network. These connections start off weak, but each time the stimulus is repeated, the connections grow stronger and stronger, and the action becomes more intuitive.
A good example is the act of learning to drive. When you start out, everything you do is incredibly deliberate. You remind yourself to turn on your indicator, to check your blind spot, and so on. However, after years of experience, these processes become so automatic that you perform them without even thinking.
Neurons that fire together, wire together.
– Donald Hebb
