Fagen et al. (2012) Flashcards

1
Q

What is operant conditioning

A
  • rewards learning by consequence of rewards or punishment
  • negative = punishment
  • positive = reward
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2
Q

Learning approach

A
  • learning as a result of conditioning
    (classical/operant)
  • social learning
    (observations and limitations)
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3
Q

Positive and negative reinforcement

A

Positive reinforcement = favorable events/outcomes that are presented after the behavior

Negative reinforcement = involves removing something that is unfavorable after display of behavior (removing something considered unpleasant/negative)

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4
Q

Punishment

A

Where an adverse event/outcome is presented which causes a decrease in the behavior it follows

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5
Q

Positive punishment

A

Adding something to the behavior where it’s less likely to reoccur

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5
Q

Negative punishment

A

Removing the stimulus to behavior

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6
Q

Reinforcement schedules

A

Time and frequency of reinforcement that influences how new behaviors are learned and old behaviors are modified

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7
Q

Continuous reinforcement

A
  • involves delivering a reinforcement every time a response occurs
  • this is used best during initial stages of learning to create strong association between behavior and response
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8
Q

Partial reinforcement

A
  • conditioning process where behavior is reinforced only a portion of the time, rather than every time it occurs
  • more resistant for behavior to go extinct
  • time: fixed-interval, variable-interval
  • response: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio
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9
Q

Fixed-ratio schedule

A
  • fixed to be given to a certain number of responses that have been made
  • eg: after every 5 responses, a reinforcement will be made
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10
Q

Variable-ratio schedule

A
  • interval of time isn’t always the same, but centers around the same average length of time
  • only provided after a variable number of correct responses have been made
  • eg: sometimes 3, 4, 5 responses and then make an average
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11
Q

Animal ethical guidelines

A
  • numbers
  • housing
  • replacement
  • species and strain
  • pain and distress
  • procedure
  • rewards
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12
Q

Fixed interval schedule

A
  • occurs only after a certain interval of time has gone
  • this means it’s predetermined
  • interval of time is always the same
  • eg: every 3 secs time has elapsed
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13
Q

Variable interval schedule

A
  • interval is not always the same
  • centers around same average length of time
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13
Q

Primary reinforcers

A

A reward that fulfils a biological need
- eg: food, drink, shelter

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13
Q

What is Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR)?

A

When a secondary reinforcer, like a sound marker, is used and then followed with administration of a primary reinforcer, like food

Advantage of SPR: ability to shape captive animal’s behavior to improve their health and well-being

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14
Q

Secondary reinforcers

A

They are learned and worked via association with primary reinforcers
- eg: money, good grades, tokens, etc

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15
Q

Background of the study

A

Investigate the use of SPR training to teach elephants to reliably/voluntarily engage in trunk washing procedure designed to maintain their well-being

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16
Q

Aim of the study

A

The aim of the study is to investigate if free-contact, traditionally trained elephants can be trained to participate in trunk wash by using positive reinforcement

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17
Q

Sample

A
  • 5 female elephants
    –> 4 juveniles (5-7 yrs old, born at stable)
    –> 1 adult (in her 50s)
  • all housed at same elephant stable in Nepal
  • not pregnant
  • all traditionally trained
  • free contact with their mahouts
  • none of elephants had experience with SPR
  • mahouts volunteered
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18
Q

Elephant sample

A
  • elephants spent most of day grazing in jungle (mahouts controlled them)
  • rest of day: spent in stable with leg chained
  • diet: fresh grass, grain, nutritional supplements, water during grazing hours
19
Q

Research method

A
  • controlled observation
  • structured observation
  • behavior checklist used to record elephants’ responses
20
Q

Procedure

A
  • primary reinforcer = chopped banana
  • secondary reinforcer = a short whistle
  • indoor sessions = 7:30am - 10am and 4pm to 7pm
  • conducted by trainer and mahout was present for safety
  • mahout stood to the side and didn’t speak or signal to elephants
  • elephants had a choice: they could choose not to engage with session by turning/walking away from trainer
21
Q

Training for trunk wash

A
  • elephant puts end of trunk in trainer’s hand
  • allow trainer to instill saline/sterile water into trunk
  • lift trunk upward so fluid runs to base of trunk
  • hold fluid there before lowering tip of trunk into collection container
  • blow sample out
22
Q

Purposes of training

A
  • teach elephants to perform voluntary trunk wash, actively moving their trunks in response to a cue
  • capture: waiting for animal to perform behavior naturally, then ‘capturing’ it by marking with reward
  • lure: for non-natural behavior, as animal is ‘lured’ into certain body position by placing reward into certain place
  • shaping: after starting either capture/lure, rewards are then only given for behaviors that are ‘best’
23
Q

What are the behavioral tasks?

A
  1. Trunk here: lure and shaping
  2. Trunk up: lure and shaping
  3. Bucket: lure and shaping
  4. Blow: capture and shaping
  5. steady: shaping
24
Q

3 ways data was collected

A
  • session times
  • number of offers
  • performance tests
25
Q

What is behavior chaining?

A
  • This is when strings of behaviors are created through behavior chaining
26
Q

Behavior chaining procedure

A
  • elephant taught to blow consistently into bucket
  • elephant rewarded for blows made in contact with bucket
  • elephant was taught to string other behaviors together in small sequences to ensure smooth transitions
  • separate behaviors were paired in different combinations and then practiced in multiple behavior sequences that had various sections of full trunk-wash chain
  • trainer continued to mark the behaviors at appropriate times and then followed up with primary reinforcer at end of sequence
  • trainer strung together all behaviors:
    –> trunk here with short steady
    –> trunk up with longer steady
    –> then bucket and blow
27
Q

Desensitization & counterconditioning

A
  • syringe and sample fluid were introduced using desensitization and counterconditioning methods
  • new potentially negative experience was introduced and paired with reward to make experience less disliked for elephant
  • trainer introduced syringe in trunk-here position
  • elephant was rewarded for staying in trunk-here position when syringe was presented
  • touching outside of trunk tip with syringe was transitioned to touching inside of nostril and then inserting syringe tip into nostril
  • increasing amounts of fluid introduced into trunk from syringe
  • fluid ranged from 1-15ml
  • started with a drop and building up in small increments to reach tolerance to 60ml
28
Q

Saline and water

A
  • elephants started on 0.9% saline as sample medium
  • then transitioned to plain water for training purposes
  • each elephant was offered water to drink at beginning of each training session to reduce likelihood that elephant would drink solution and interfere with completing tasks
  • one elephant had preference for saline water and would continue to drink saline after rejecting drinking water
  • she was transitioned to use water instead of saline as sample medium and success rate improved
  • there was no prescribed time spent at each stage in training process
29
Q

Results: number of sessions

A
  • 4 juvenile elephants all successfully learned trunk wash in time available for study
  • adult elephant, elephant 5, didn’t successfully learn trunk wash
30
Q

Elephant 1

A

–> passed test after 30 min training sesh
–> mean = 12.42 mins

31
Q

Elephant 2

A

–> 25 training sesh
–> mean = 10.29 mins

32
Q

Elephant 3

A

–> 35 training sesh
–> mean = 13.27 mins

33
Q

Elephant 4

A

–> 35 training sesh
–> mean = 11.11 mins

34
Q

Elephant 5

A

–> was never tested on trunk wash
–> she didn’t learn all the necessary components

35
Q

Results: individual tasks

A
  • elephant 5:
    –> never passed her blow into bucket, desensitization to syringe, and steady tests
  • elephant 2 and 4:
    –> never passed steady tests, despite passing full trunk-wash test
36
Q

Result: training time

A
  • 257 mins for elephant 2
  • 451 mins for elephant 4
  • mean total training time:
    –> 378 mins all elephants
  • elephants who successfully passed trunk wash test (1-4):
    –> 367 mins
  • each training sesh:
    –> mean duration of 12 mins all elephants
37
Q

Overall passing rate

A
  • session 35 test, only 3-4 elephants were being trained
  • mean % correct never reached 100%
  • all individuals reached default score of 90%
  • by time full trunk wash was being passed, elephants could only reach a score greater than 90% for full trunk wash, steady, and trunk down tasks
38
Q

Training methodology and sequences

A

TRUNK HERE:
- elephant places send of trunk into trainer’s hand to allow saline/water into trunk using lure and shaping methods

TRUNK UP:
- elephant lifts trunk up to allow saline/water to run down to trunk base using lure and shaping techniques

BUCKET:
- end of elephant’s trunk is then placed into bucket in preparation to blow.
- used lure in bottom of bucket, then removed, marked, and rewarded

BLOW:
- elephant gives out powerful exhale to blow out solution for sample collection, while using capture technique

STEADY:
- elephant holds position she had just been previously asked to do using shaping technique.
- behavior was reinforced by repetitive marking of hold with primary reinforcer

39
Q

SPR technique

A

Primary reinforcer:
- chopped banana

Secondary reinforcer:
- short whistle blow

40
Q

Training methodology

A

Morning sesh:
- 7.30am - 10.00am

Afternoon sesh:
- 4.00pm - 7.00pm

1) Voluntary method used for training trunk wash

2) elephant put end of trunk into trainer’s hand

3) trainer instills saline/sterile water into trunk

4) lifts trunk upwards so fluid runs to base of trunk

5) hold fluid then lower trunk into collection container

6) elephant blows sample out

41
Q

What’s capture, lure, and shaping

A

Capture:
- behavior that elephant does without training or is similar to spontaneous behavior

Luring:
- behaviors that aren’t natural to elephant and is used to bring elephant to trainer’s needs by using reward (banana)

Shaping:
- behavior that’s only seen as best or closest to what’s desired from elephant is rewarded

42
Q

Results: overall passing rate

A
  • elephants’ performance improved from mean success rate of 39.0% after 10 sessions to 89.3% after 35 sessions
  • mean % never reached 100%
  • all individual behaviors within sequence received default score of 90%
  • 90% or greater, but never 100%
43
Q

Conclusions

A
  • SPR great tool for captive management programs
  • it’s easy to train juvenile, free contact, traditionally trained elephants in Nepal who have no prior experience with SPR technique
  • teaching new tasks is an efficient process
  • elephants respond reliably
44
Q

How was performance test operationalized?

A

80% = entire trunk wash
90% = individual tasks

45
Q

Improvements

A
  • to make it both male and female
  • more in number
  • equal number of juveniles and adults
  • all age groups
  • elephants from other countries
  • have 3rd party available to evaluate/video tape sessions available for review and scoring
  • set stricter criteria regarding time position held with exact positioning measures
46
Q

Evaluation methodology

A

STRENGTHS:
- quantitative data
- qualitative data
- high reliability
(controls - amount of saline used, number of sessions taken)
- high ecological validity

WEAKNESSES:
- low generalizability
- no standardized procedure
- subjective assessment criteria

47
Q

Evaluation ethics

A

STRENGTHS:
- pain and distress
- number of elephants
- housing
- procedure
- rewards
- sample size kept to a minimum