當認知心理學於1970年代引入台灣時，其所主張的主動運作與心理建構兩樣認知特性，與當時流行的條件化歷程研究及聯結論觀點，有甚多矛盾衝突之處。本文以條件化歷程與條件式推理研究之對比為例，說明兩者在學習與研究上概念不同之處，並分析兩者在認知階序上所處之相對位置。本文最後以四十年後之研究為例，說明兩者原先認為在概念上互為矛盾與扞格之處，亦有可會通之處，呼應了在討論台灣認知心理學之引入與發展時，所主張的「流中有變，匯變成流」之歷史流變主軸。

The two most acclaimed notions of active processing and mental organization in cognitive psychology were forcefully advocated following the first introduction of Neisser's (1967) book to Taiwan in 1970. The introduction created confusion and contradictions in learning and research, especially when the then-prevailing studies on conditioning were based primarily in the context of associationism. The present study contrasts the two lines of studies, i.e., conditioning and conditional reasoning, to such an extent that they are obviously located at different levels along a continuum of cognitive hierarchy. However, based on new findings forty years later, a component of ”cognitive” causal reasoning can be found in a research paradigm of conditioning that was traditionally thought as ”associative” and ”passive”. The review echoes the historical perspective that the changes inevitably emerged from the established stream and the emerged changes will eventually converge and form a new stream. The observation seems to be applicable to the case of cognitive studies in Taiwan.