Final answer:
The statement regarding learning being a permanent influence on behavior through experience is true. Learned behaviors are more flexible and adaptive than innate behaviors, allowing for modifications in response to environmental changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement, "Learning involves a relatively permanent influence on behavior, which comes about through experience," is true. Learning is indeed a process that results in a change in behavior or knowledge due to experience. Unlike innate behaviors which are typically present at birth and do not change in response to the environment, learned behaviors are acquired through interaction with the environment and can be highly adaptive, allowing organisms to adjust to new situations and conditions.
Methods of learning include habituation, observational learning, conditioning, and play. Cognitive learning specifically refers to situations where an animal learns to associate a behavior with a stimulus. This associative nature of learning helps organisms learn what behaviors are beneficial or detrimental, reinforcing the behavior accordingly through positive or negative outcomes.
For example, when driving conditions change due to wet or icy roads, drivers need to adapt their driving behavior, which is learned, to prevent loss of control. This flexibility of learned behavior enhances their adaptive value in a changing environment, unlike innate behaviors, which are more hardwired and less subject to modification through experience.