Continuous vs. Batch learning

[Steve Potter]

It is pretty clear to me that biological neural networks have all adapted
to prefer the continuous learning technique, as we can verify for humans
by remembering something that we only saw (or heard, etc.) once.  One-trial
learning paradigms abound in the behavioral literature.  I cant think of 
any biological examples of batch learning, in which sensory data are
saved until a certain number of them can be somehow averaged together
and conclusions made and remembered. Any ideas?  

Anyway, perhaps we should take an example from nature, which has been
optimizing things far longer than we have!

Steve Potter
UC Irvine Psychobiology dept.
Irvine, CA 92717

spotter at darwin.bio.uci.edu