The function of time discrimination and classical conditioning.
This paper makes three main points: There are many similarities between man-made rules for detecting causality and "laws" of classical conditioning, presumably generated by nature. They suggest that the function of classical conditioning resembles the detection of causality. There are twelve similarities between the clock used by rats to discriminate time and a stopwatch. They suggest that the rat's clock, like a stopwatch, was designed for measuring unknown durations. There are eight similarities between time discrimination and classical conditions. In particular, whether or not a stimulus is timed depends on the signal value of the stimulus. The similarities suggest that time discrimination and classical conditioning - their underlying mechanisms - have similar functions.
D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D051381:Rats; D013998:Time Perception; D014796:Visual Perception