The importance of cognitive health in preventative behavioural medicine

Question 1

What are the two main features of Classical/pavlovian learning?

Answer 1

• It involves involuntary or reflex responses

- There is no involvement of reward

Question 2

What are the two main types of learning?

Answer 2

Classical

Operant

Question 3

Give a common example of classical learning

Answer 3

House training

Question 4

What are the 4 features that make up a classical learned response?

Answer 4

o Unconditioned stimulus = full bladder or full bowel
o Conditioned stimulus = substrate and location
o Unconditioned response = urination or defaecation
o Conditioned response = urination or defaecation

Question 5

Briefly describe classical conditioning

Answer 5

Classical conditioning: a learning process by which an innate/reflex response becomes associated with a new stimulus through repetition of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli occurring at the same time.

Question 6

Give an example of a common behaviour issue related to classical conditioning, explain your answer

Answer 6

House soiling

• urination in the house
• urination is more frequent and the ability for caregivers to pair the unconditional and the conditional stimuli consistently is therefore poor

Question 7

Give 2 factors that could limit the success of house training

Answer 7

• caregiver availability
• lack of easy access to outdoors
• use of punishment which creates negative associations

Question 8

Why is a reward unnecessary during house training?

Answer 8

The reward is the physiological pleasure associated with emptying of the full bladder or bowel

Question 9

Explain the phenomenon of blocking, using house training as an example.

Answer 9

Blocking is the learning phenomenon whereby the association between an unconditional and conditional stimulus is blocked by the pre-existence of an association with an alternative conditional stimulus

e.g. the puppy pad / newspaper used as an interim conditional stimulus when house training may block the formation of an association with an outdoor stimulus such as grass

As a result the puppy may wait until it runs back into the house and then eliminate on the puppy pad / newspaper

Question 10

What is the role of classical conditioning in preventative emotional healthcare?

Answer 10

• Stimuli that are associated with a domestic environment need to be incorporated in the “normal” set of stimuli for the individual
• socialisation and habituation

Question 11

What are the three aims of socialisation/habituation?

Answer 11

• Decreases salience (emotional flow rate)
• Encourage positive (desire- seeking) or neutral emotional responses
• Reduce negative (fear-anxiety) emotional responses

Question 12

What is the difference between socialisation, habituation and sensitisation?

Answer 12

• Socialisation - neutral/positive response to social contact
• Habituation - neutral/positive response to environmental stimulus
• Sensitisation - negative emotional association with a stimulus

Question 13

Why is socialisation and habituation so important for dogs?

Answer 13

• They are socially obligate

- They are expected to engage in social contact with other dogs and people

Question 14

How does socialisation in cats differ to dogs?

Answer 14

• They are social but not obligate
• Socialisation with humans is a priority
• Socialisation with other cats is a passive process

Question 15

How is socialisation characterised in the feline world?

Answer 15

Low intensity, high frequency

Question 16

Give some examples of specific factors that influence a cats ability to live comfortably with human beings

Answer 16

• Style of handling
• Number of handlers
• Amount and frequency of handling
• Genetic influences

Question 17

How should you prepare a cat for physical interactions expected in its life (O and vets)?

Answer 17

• kittens are touched all over, lifted frequently and gently restrained
• Kittens must in a positive emotional state for the socialisation to be successful

Question 18

What are the the three components of operant conditioning?

Answer 18

• Stimulus
• Response
• Consequence

Question 19

Briefly explain the concept of operant conditioning.

Answer 19

Operant conditioning: the addition of a consequence influences the probability of that response/behaviour happening again => animal makes an association between a particular behaviour and a consequence.
The addition of an appetitive consequence which increases probability of that behavioural response being selected again in the context of that cue = positive reinforcement

Question 20

What are the most commonly reported operant conditioning related problems in emotionally healthy pets?

Answer 20

• Lack of recall
• Pulling on the lead
• Not getting down from furniture
• Not releasing objects such as toys or food

Question 21

Give some reasons why operant conditioning is unsuccessful

Answer 21

• lack of consistency
• lack of patience
• poor training environment
• poor cue selection
• poor timing of cue
• poor selection of consequence
• inappropriate use of punishment

Question 22

What are some factors that help make operant conditioning sucessful?

Answer 22

• Calm
• Simple
• Short
• Fun

Question 23

What steps can be taken when caregivers report that dogs are not responding to learned cues?

Answer 23

• Determine if the behaviour is reasonable for the dog
• Assess the emotional state of the dog
• Consider the level of emotion arousal
• Advise caregivers regarding the concept of emotional management
• assess the physical health of the animal