2 Flashcards
What is a precaution to take before starting an extinction program?
Increase the frequency of the undesired behavior to make the elimination process smoother.
What should be combined with extinction procedures?
Rewarding a behavior that is incompatible with the problem behavior.
What can happen if reinforcement is given during an extinction burst?
The more intense form of the response may become learned, which is the opposite of the desired outcome.
Why might some behaviors be difficult to eliminate?
They may be self-reinforcing or have reinforcement from other sources.
What is a common misconception about punishment and reinforcement?
That they are equal processes; in reality, they serve different purposes in training.
What is the main difference between punishment and negative reinforcement?
Punishment applies an aversive stimulus to stop behavior, while negative reinforcement removes it to encourage desired behavior.
What is a potential risk of using mild aversives as punishment?
They may not be effective and can lead to emotional disturbance in the animal.
What is a consideration with the use of food in training?
Reducing daily intake elsewhere to prevent unnecessary weight gain.
What is the difference between a lure and a reinforcer?
A lure is used to encourage behavior, while a reinforcer is used to reward behavior that has already occurred.
What is non-contingent reinforcement?
Providing reinforcement without a clear connection to specific behaviors, which can lead to anxiety in animals.
What is continuous reinforcement?
A schedule where rewards are given every time a desired behavior occurs.
What is the advantage of switching to an intermittent reinforcement schedule?
It maintains the animal’s interest and reduces predictability in training.
What can happen if an animal is on a continuous reinforcement schedule and then not rewarded?
It can be perceived as punishment, leading to decreased efficiency in training.
What is differential reinforcement?
Focusing on rewarding the best performances to shape higher-quality responses.
What is a potential issue with high schedules of reinforcement?
Behaviors learned through intermittent reinforcement can be harder to eliminate.
What is the initial approach to reinforcement for new behaviors?
Generally, a high schedule of reinforcement is used initially for any new behavior that is being established.
How should reinforcement change as behavior becomes reliable?
The rate of reinforcement should be gradually reduced as the behavior becomes more reliable.
What should replace food as reinforcement over time?
Where possible, food should be replaced with alternatives such as social contact or the opportunity for a preferred form of play.
What are the different dimensions to the end goal of behavior?
For many behaviors, there are different dimensions to the end goal, such as the time taken for the animal to respond initially and the time taken to complete the behavior.
What is a discriminative stimulus?
The signals or cues that indicate what is wanted behaviorally from the animal at any given time and its consequences.
What does it mean for behavior to be under stimulus control?
Behavior is said to be under stimulus control if a given discriminative stimulus indicates that only when it is present is there any chance of reinforcement.
What happens if rewarding occurs at other times?
Rewarding at other times will actually reduce learning by reducing the contingency between the stimulus and reinforcement.
What is the differential outcome effect?
It is best if different rewards are used for the different actions as well as different cues when several tasks need to be taught at the same time.
What are the most commonly recognized discriminative stimuli?
The most commonly recognized discriminative stimuli are verbal commands.
What may be a better predictor of a reward than verbal commands?
The body language of the owner in combination with the tone of the request may be a better predictor of a reward.
What can an angry tone of voice predict?
An angry tone of voice while giving the command is often a good predictor of some form of punishment.
What is a conditioned safety signal?
A specific mat trained for relaxation that is not used in any other context, becoming a conditioned stimulus for emotional relaxation.
What does clarity of communication provide to the animal?
Clarity of communication provides the animal with security by letting it know what it can expect at certain times.
What can happen if different family members respond differently to a pet’s behavior?
The animal may learn to behave differently towards them, such as displaying aggression to retain food with children but not with parents.
What are some reasons a previously established response may be lost?
Forgetting, extinction, counter-conditioning, and stress-induced dishabituation.
What happens if a learned response is not reinforced?
If a learned response is not occasionally reinforced, the animal may simply forget what it has learned.
What is extinction in behavior modification?
Extinction occurs when a learned response is not occasionally reinforced, leading it to eventually disappear.
What is stress-induced dishabituation?
When an individual is subjected to chronic stress, the acceptance of what was established through habituation may no longer occur.
What is essential to address before reconditioning an animal?
The background stress in the animal’s environment must be addressed before reconditioning is attempted.
What is necessary to build a behavior modification protocol?
It is necessary to have a clear idea of what the functional end goal of the program is.
