The blend of ethology and learning theory

Question 1

Why is it important that we understand unwelcome and abnormal behavours?

Answer 1

• Work, health and safety risks for people working with animals
• Safety risks for pet owners and the general public
• Animal welfare risks

Question 2

What is meant by learning?

Answer 2

A relatively permanent change in response that occurs as a result of experience

Question 3

What is meant by training?

Answer 3

Drawing out desirable and suppressing undesirable innate behaviours to institute novel responses

Question 4

What is imprinting?

Answer 4

• Mostly promotes survival, newborn innate behaviour

Question 5

What are some characteristics of imprinting?

Answer 5

o Occurs at a critical sensitive period
o Irreversible
o Establishes an individual’s preference for certain species
o Affects some behaviours more than others
o Is fortified by stressful stimuli

Question 6

What are the two main learning categories?

Answer 6

• Non associative learning
• associative learning

Question 7

What is meant by non-associative learning?

Answer 7

An animal is exposed to a single stimulus to which it can become habituated or sensitised. There are two categories:
- Habituation: Repeated representations of the stimulus by itself cause a decrease in the response (eg. zoo animals not fearful of people)
- Sensitisation: Repeated representations of the stumulus by itself cause an increase in the response (eg. fireworks and thunder)

Question 8

What is associative learning? What are the two conditioning responses associated with this learning?

Answer 8

• A relationship between at least two stimuli becomes established
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning

Question 9

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 9

• Pavlovs experiment
• Rewards are associated with stimuli
• Acquisition of a response to a new stimulus by association with an old stimulus
• Involves coupling a stimulus with an innate behaviour or physiological response

Question 10

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 10

• A voluntary activity that brings about a reward
• Rewards associated with responses
• Enables an animal to associate events over which it has control

Question 11

What type of learning do you think most animal training exercises rely on for learning?

Answer 11

Operant conditioning - rewards based

Question 12

What are the two types of reinforcers?

Answer 12

Primary (eg. treat) and secondary (eg. clicker)

Question 13

Is timing important for reinforcement in training?

Answer 13

• Yes, very important
• Animals need to associate the reinforcer directly with the behaviour

Question 14

Why would extinction occur in training?

Answer 14

• Happens as a result of reinforcement no longer following the learnt response (or when a conditioned stimulus is continuously presented without the unconditioned stimulus)
• Resulting effect is an eventual reduction in response strength
• Frustration effect can occur early in extinction
• applies to BOTH welcome and unwelcome behaviour

Question 14

Why would extinction occur in training?

Answer 14

• Happens as a result of reinforcement no longer following the learnt response (or when a conditioned stimulus is continuously presented without the unconditioned stimulus)
• Resulting effect is an eventual reduction in response strength
• Frustration effect can occur early in extinction
• applies to BOTH welcome and unwelcome behaviour

Question 15

What are the schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 15

• Constant
• intermittent (invariable or variable)
• differential reinforcement

Question 16

What are some examples of positive punishment?

Answer 16

Hitting a dog to stop it jumping

Question 17

What are some examples of negative punishment?

Answer 17

Not giving a dog attention when it jumps up on you

Question 18

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 18

• Occurs when an animal learns to behave a certain way to avoid a negative stimulus or reduce its unpleasantness
• Again, timing is important
• Commonly confused with punishment

Question 19

What is punishment?

Answer 19

• Stimuli applied at the time, or after, a response
• As with reinforcement, can be both positive and negative (positive = adds something, negative = takes something away)

Question 20

What aspects of training make a response more likely in the future?

Answer 20

Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement

Question 21

What aspects of training make a response less likely in the future?

Answer 21

Positive and negative punishment

Question 22

Explain generalisation

Answer 22

Responses to not only conditioned stimuli, but stimuli similar to the conditioned ones

Question 23

Explain discrimination

Answer 23

Responses to very specific stimuli (opposite of generalisation)

Question 24

Explain counterconditioning

Answer 24

A process in which an animal that is reactive, fearful, or aggressive to a specific stimulus learns to become accepting of the stimulus by pairing the stimulus with something that the animal likes or wants

Question 25

Explain flooding

Answer 25

Prolonged exposure to a stimulus that an animal is reactive towards or fearful of, at a level that triggers the response continuously until it stops. Generally not recommended

Question 26

Explain avoidance

Answer 26

The act of preventing an individual from engaging in unwelcome behaviours

Question 27

Explain distraction and redirection

Answer 27

A process in which a reward is used to lure the animal’s attention away from one stimulus to another

Question 28

Why would you train an alternate behaviour?

Answer 28

• To get an alternate response
• Process in which an appropriate behaviour that is incompatible with the problem behaviour is taught as an alternate response using positive reinforcement

Question 29

Explain learned helplessness

Answer 29

Animal ceases offering any behaviours because they learn they have no control over outcomes.
- Welfare issue