Final Deck Flashcards
(90 cards)
Define stimuli
Anything that can be perceived by the animal
Animals are always learning- info is provided by everything in environment
Learned information then causes some kind of behavioral response
Types of stimuli
Unconditioned or primary stimuli- environmental information
Conditioned stimuli- cues/signals
What can be a cue
Anything the animal can perceive and trainer can use consistently
Define latency
time to respond to a cue
part of criteria- slow responses may have been shaped
How to condition the cue
Cue is associated with history of reinforcement:
Presence of cue- performance of a particular behavior is likely to be reinforced
Absence of cue- performance of a particular behavior is not likely to be reinforced
How to establish a cue
Shape behavior first
Teach cue after behavior is established
When you can predict animal will respond, start associating cue
Tips for training a cue
Give cue just as behavior is starting and gradually back up cue in time
Discrimination of cue and no cue
Work in blocks
Know cue is established once you have stimulus control
How do you know the animal understands the cue
Behavior always occurs immediately when cue is given
Behavior never occurs in absence of cue
Behavior never occurs in response to another cue
No other behavior occurs in response to the cue
How to transfer a cue
Pair second cue with presentation of first.
Commonly use a physical and verbal cue
Creates flexibility in how worked
Pros and cons of fading a cue
Cue can be made smaller in magnitude to make it less obvious to the audience. It can increase the animal’s attentiveness but is limited by the animal’s perceptual abilities
How to correct anticipation: animal offers behavior before it is asked
Correct by using set time frames
Set time goal for animal to NOT offer behavior
Reset time if animal offers behavior before goal is reached
Importance of feeding for attention/waiting
Define limited hold
Technique used to reduce latency when animal is not responding quickly enough to the cue
Reinforce for average response time, reduce over time with variability (like bell curve)
How to chain behaviors
Train last to first
Completion of one behavior cues start of next
Con- Animal may anticipate and skip steps in chain
Tips for trouble shooting behaviors
Discuss use of LRS
Think about application to ABCs of training
If something is not working, look at Antecedent and Consequence. Is there something in the cue/set up that is not allowing the animal to succeed? Is there something about the consequence not allowing the animal to succeed?
What is the goal of any session
To set the animal up to succeed
Why is the LRS beneficial
By using the LRS, we don’t reinforce incorrect behavior but allow animal to keep working
Pacing of session and handling LRS encourages good behavioral momentum
What determines whether something is reinforcing or not
Natural history
Subject’s state:
hungry, fearful, wanting attention, liking novelty
The arrival of reinforcement communicates what to the subject
The arrival of the reinforcer tells the subject what is being reinforced
(Baiting can reinforce a non-response)
(Negative reinforcer needs to cease as soon as desired behavior occurs)
Why is it beneficial to use the smallest size of reinforcement possible
Reduces time animal spends eating food
Spends more time learning
Takes longer to be full
Gives trainer more flexbility
Define jackpots
Reinforcement that is much bigger than normal
Surprise to the subject
May be used to reinforce a breakthrough
Define a continuous interval reinforcement schedule
AKA Continuous reinforcement (CRF)
With each behavior, a reinforcement is delivered. Every selected behavior is reinforced
Define a fixed schedule reinforcement schedule
When the responses are not reinforced every time they occur, but are reinforced at set times
Define Fixed Interval (FI)
the first behavior after a set period of time is reinforced. Ex: rat presses lever. This is limited to once a minute. So first press after that minute time frame is reinforced. Rat may keep pressing lever within the time window, but these are not reinforced
Define Fixed Ratio (FR)
Animal is reinforced after a set number of behaviors
So rat has to press lever 5 times to get reinforcement