General Learning Model.

General Learning Model: - AS noted earlier, learning can be accomplished using a number of different methods, such as by memorization facts, by being told, or by studying examples like problem solution. Learning requires that new knowledge structures be created from some form of input stimulus. This new knowledge must then be assimilated into a knowledge base and be tested in some way for its utility. Testing means that the knowledge should be used in performance of some task from which meaningful feedback can be obtained, where the feedback provides some measure of the accuracy and usefulness of the newly acquired knowledge.

General Learning Model

general learning model is depicted in figure 4.1 where the environment has been included as a part of the overall learner system. The environment may be regarded as either a form of nature which produces random stimuli or as a more organized training source such as a teacher which provides carefully selected training examples for the learner component. The actual form of environment used will depend on the particular learning paradigm. In any case, some representation language must be assumed for communication between the environment and the learner. The language may be the same representation scheme as that used in the knowledge base (such as a form of predicate calculus). When they are hosen to be the same, we say the single representation trick is being used. This usually results in a simpler implementation since it is not necessary to transform between two or more different representations.

For some systems the environment may be a user working at a keyboard . Other systems will use program modules to simulate a particular environment. In even more realistic cases the system will have real physical sensors which interface with some world environment.

Inputs to the learner component may be physical stimuli of some type or descriptive , symbolic training examples. The information conveyed to the learner component is used to create and modify knowledge structures in the knowledge base. This same knowledge is used by the performance component to carry out some tasks, such as solving a problem playing a game, or classifying instances of some concept.

 given a task, the performance component produces a response describing its action in performing the task. The critic module then evaluates this response relative to an optimal response.

Feedback , indicating whether or not the performance was acceptable , is then sent by the critic module to the learner component for its subsequent use in modifying the structures in the knowledge base. If proper learning was accomplished, the system’s performance will have improved with the changes made to the knowledge base.

The cycle described above may be repeated a number of times until the performance of the system has reached some acceptable level, until a known learning goal has been reached, or until changes ceases to occur in the knowledge base after some chosen number of training examples have been observed.

There are several important factors which influence a system’s ability to learn in addition to the form of representation used. They include the types of training provided, the form and extent of any initial background knowledge , the type of feedback provided, and the learning algorithms used. 

The type of training used in a system can have a strong effect on performance, much the same as it does for humans. Training may consist of randomly selected instance or examples that have been carefully selected and ordered for presentation. The instances may be positive examples of some concept or task a being learned, they may be negative, or they may be mixture of both positive and negative. The instances may be well focused using only relevant information, or they may contain a variety of facts and details including irrelevant data.

There are Many forms of learning can be characterized as a search through a space of possible hypotheses or solutions. To make learning more efficient. It is necessary to constrain this search process or reduce the search space. One method of achieving this is through the use of background knowledge which can be used to constrain the search space or exercise control operations which limit the search process.

Feedback is essential to the learner component since otherwise it would never know if the knowledge structures in the knowledge base were improving or if they were adequate for the performance of the given tasks. The feedback may be a simple yes or no type of evaluation, or it may contain more useful information describing why a particular action was good or bad. Also , the feedback may be completely reliable, providing an accurate assessment of the performance or it may contain noise, that is the feedback may actually be incorrect some of the time. Intuitively , the feedback must be accurate more than 50% of the time; otherwise the system carries useful information, the learner should also to build up a useful corpus of knowledge quickly. On the other hand, if the feedback is noisy or unreliable, the learning process may be very slow and the resultant knowledge incorrect.

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