LEARNING APPROACH-Fagen et al. (Elephant learning) Flashcards
Describe the background of the study
- Traditional mahouts would use negative reinforcement/ aversive stimuli (punishments) to train elephants
- These methods were seen as harmful so the study decided to use rewards instead.
- the target behaviour was a “trunk wash”
- SPR training was used and this had the secondary reinforcer to be associated with the primary reinforcer.
what terms in the study was being tested (Psychology being investigated)
-operant conditioning
-punishment
-behavioural shaping &chaining
-secondary positive reinforcement
-primary and secondary reinforcer
what is operant conditioning
a process of learning through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and/or punishment
- Behaviours are reinforced through rewards and behaviours that are punished become less likely
primary vs secondary reinforcers
Primary- rewards given to fulfil a biological need e.g food
Secondary- rewards that are given that do not cause a natural response to desire them however are learnt to be desired
what is the aim of secondary positive reinforcement
a secondary reinforcer is reinforced by a neutral stimuli (whistle) which is consistently followed by a primary reinforcer which is often food
what are the advantages of SPR training
-safer conditions for handlers
-increased creativity and choice for animals
-less stressful sample collection
-open to veterinary procedures that may cause pain
-reduced need for anaesthesia
what main disease were the trainers trying to investigate from the elephants
-Tuberculosis
what was the aim of the study
To determine the effectiveness of SPR training free-contact elephants to voluntarily participate in a truck wash for the purpose of TB testing
Features of the sample
-5 elephants
-all female
-4 were juvenile and 1 adult
-ages ranged 5-7 years old and 50 years
-all elephants were docile
-no previous training with SPR
-same elephant stable in Nepal
what was the primary and secondary reinforcer of the study
primary- chopped banana
secondary- a whistle blow
what were the training session times
7:30am- 10:00am
4:00pm-7:00pm
how is this training distinguished from the USAHA Elephant TB subcommittee
The method in the actual study is more active as it requires the elephants to actively move their trunk in the required position themselves by a cue
How did the trainers pair up the reinforcers
After every whistle blow, chopped banana was immediately followed up
what are the training tools/techniques of this study
-capture
-shaping
-lure
CAPTURE:
A useful technique that captures a natural behaviour by repeatedly rewarding it.
LURE:
Through strategic placement of the reward, a wanted body position is reached
SHAPING:
The tendency to use positive reinforcement on successful approximation on the goal behaviour
What is behavioural chaining
This enables separately trained behaviours to be performed in succession in response to cues. Rewards are therefore presented until the chain is completed.
describe TRUNK HERE:
The elephant placed her trunk on the trainers palm to receive the saline solution via the lure method by placing the chopped banana on the trainers palm
This was further shaped by only giving the banana after the trunk was placed on the trainers palm
describe TRUNK UP:
this involves the elephant. lifting her trunk up with the solution so that it may reach the base of her trunk. This was lured with banana being placed above the elephants forehead while it was shaped for increasing height
describe BUCKET:
Here the end of the trunk as lured to the bottom of a bucket by a banana in order to prepare for blow
describe BLOW INTO BUCKET:
The elephants would give a strong exhale of the solution and this was captured as its a natural process to exhale however it was shaped to bring out more force.
describe HOLD STEADY:
Here the elephants would hold the previous position from BLOW and this was done through shaping to increase the time of the position being held. Here the primary reinforcer was given after completing the hold with a hand cue.
Why was the verbal cue not in English nor Nepali
This was because they are monosyllabic and should be distinctive in order for the elephants to not recognise it when the mahouts converse with it.
what was the 1st theory of behavioural chaining in the study
They saw that one behaviour acted as a reinforcer for the next behaviour and the next follows up until a rewards is given
How were desensitisation and counterconditioning methods made less aversive
They paired this with a reward with the elephant associating the syringe with the banana
How is the saline solution inserted in the trunk here position
-The trunk tip was placed on the palm and the syringe was gradually introduced into the nostril of the trunk tip. Increasing amounts were made from 1-15mL up until the full 60mL
what type of observation was it
- structured observation
- non-participant observation
How was data collected during session times
-Here the trainer would time the first cue that was offered till the elephants response to the last cue
How was data collected during number of offers
Trainer would count the number of offers/cues given to the elephant for a particular behaviour
How was data collected by performance tests and how was passing operationalised
This were retests done after every 5 sessions. This started after session 10 and they would test all previous behaviours learnt with a passing score of 80%
it had to be of “sufficient quality to function in a trunk wash” which was left up to the trainer
Which behaviour was excluded from the sequence and was separately tested
TRUNK DOWN: Holding the trunk down and relaxing it
How was data analysed for qualitative or quantitative
Qualitative data- descriptive techniques
Quantitative data- Calculations were created/ performance scores/ tests
state the results of each elephant (timing) and the number of sessions it took
E 1- 30 sessions, 12 mins
E2- 25 sessions, 10 mins
E3- 35 sessions , 13 mins
E4- 35 sessions , 11 mins
How was the relative difficulty of a specific position reflected and which position had the highest and which had the lowest
-It was reflected by the number of offers given prior to first receiving a passing score on the associated behaviour on the performance test .
TRUNK HERE had the highest relative difficulty (295 offers)
BLOW had the lowest relative difficulty (54 offers)
what was the mean total training time and mean training time for each session
-TOTAL: 378 min
-EACH session: 12mins
the elephants mean success rate increased from what to what
-39% to 89.3%
What was the conclusion
-It is possible to train free contact, traditionally trained elephants from Nepal who have no prior experience with SPR to voluntarily participate in a trunk wash with the use of SPR
-SPR is efficient and a useful tool for veterinary procedures and improves behavioural management
Strengths???
-because it was a controlled observation study, by using the same observation schedule it could test for reliability
-limited influence of demand characteristics as the mahouts were encouraged to not give any signals as well as the verbal cues being monosyllabic
-use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis
Weaknesses???
-Hard to generalise
-presence of distractions
-hard to test for reliability due to the observation schedule fitting the individual preferences for each elephant
-subjective observations as it was only one observer
Give examples of distractions towards the elephants
-other animals were present
-tourists
-training time was before meal time
What could’ve cause a lack of results to adult Elephant
-age
-visual impairment
-trunk weakness
-distractions ( a calf kept wondering into her stall during training)
How was lack of ecological validity shown
-Elephants were chained
-fed nutritional supplements
-water taking was in time intervals
-specific times to eat food
Ethical strengths
- The small sample size of elephants was ethical
- no punishment were used
- were fed adequately and roamed around the stall with other elephants
- rewards were given (chopped banana)
- aversive stimuli: the syringe may have been an aversive stimuli however was counterconditioned
- all chained during training sessions
what influences of individual differences between the elephants had on results of this study
-the learning ability- some took longer/ shorter time to learn a specific behaviour
-personality- some elephants were more patient than others with some taking a much shorter number of training sessions than others.
- health matters such as for elephant 5 who had trunk weakness
what were the advantages of use of animals in this study
-The animals were not wild and were already in captivity making it easier as they were familiar with the handlers
- Training was done for several weeks on a daily basis and would have been impractical for humans
-motivating humans with on-going trials may be harder than with the animals ; food `
- ethichs were maintained
How does the study support the nurture based approach
Operant conditioning- It showed that human training shaped elephants behaviour through rewards and trunk washing isn’t an automated activity for elephants and had to be learnt and reinforced.
Positive reinforcement VS Negative reinforcement
Positive- This is when the target behaviour is learnt by something desirable ( reward) e.g given chopped banana after lifting trunk up
Negative reinforcement- When a negative stimuli has been removed as a reward which leads to the desired behaviour being done. e.g elephant is prodded with a stick until it raises its trunk.
How could the SPR training not only affect animals but impact society as well
ANIMALS- avoid aversive stimuli, improve their wellbeing, reduced need for anaesthesia
SOCIETY- Safer sample collection reducing any accidents resulting from elephants becoming aggressive.
- The training of getting a trunk wash could identify infected elephants, reducing spread of TB onto society.
