CAB- learning and cognition

• Learning


  A relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of experience
• Two main learning theories

  • Classical conditioning / respondent conditioning
  • Operant conditioning / instrumental conditioning
• Classical conditioning / respondent conditioning


  Instinctive, no control, involuntary, smooth muscle contractions, glandular secretions, autonomic nervous system control
• Classical conditioning


  • Salivation - Pavlov's dogs
  • Excitement
  • Behaviour problems
  • Involuntary responses mediated by the ANS
  • Sexual responses
  • Urination and defecation
  • Emotional responses e.g. fear, anxiety
• Operant conditioning


  A method of learning that reinforces and / or punishes behavior, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior
• Operant conditioning


  • Lab rats pressing a lever when a green light is on to receive a food pellet as a reward, pressing the lever when a red light is on to receive a mild electric shock
• Reinforcement and punishment


  • You want the behaviour to CONTINUE: Positive reinforcement (you GIVE something), Negative reinforcement (you TAKE something away)
  • You want the behaviour to STOP: Positive punishment (you GIVE something), Negative punishment (you TAKE something away)
• Cue


  A discriminative stimulus that indicates the opportunity for reinforcement
• Strong reinforcers build strong cues
• Reinforcement and punishment are unique to the individual
• PRT with dogs

  • Deldalle & Gaunet (2014) reported that the use of reinforcement increases owner directed attentiveness
  • Rooney & Cowan (2011) found that dogs that received more rewards during training tend to do better when faced with a novel task
  • Hiby et al. (2004) found no significant difference in recall obedience when different training methods were used
  • Hiby et al. (2004) also found that the use of a play reward significantly increased obedience to leave or give up an object
  • Wilson et al. (2017) used PRT to train cats
• Habituation


  Decrease in response after repeated presentations, stimulus becomes irrelevant, needs regular exposure
• Habituation is not to be confused with Flooding, which is continual and inescapable exposure to a fear-eliciting stimulus, working above threshold, has been used in animal training, can lead to learned helplessness
• Habituation vs socialisation


  What do you want your animal to do?
• Conditioned emotional response


  It is through associative learning that a dog learns that a leash means a walk, that a clicker means a treat and that a white coat equals food in the case of Pavlov's dogs. It is also through associations that a dog learns that a skunk may mean the release of a terrible stench that burns eyes. When a conditioned emotional response takes place, the brain, nervous system and endocrine system are all involved.
• Neuronal activity: In the brain, several electrical and chemical transmissions occur through neurons and it is these transmissions that affect how the dog learns, memorises, experiences emotions and ultimately behaves. Because neurons form such connections, dogs can recall past experiences and can respond (without cognitive involvement) in a reflex-like matter that has proven beneficial in the past.
• Amygdala activity: The amygdala plays an active role when it comes to processing memory and emotional reactions. Also known as the "smoke detector of the brain", the amygdala is responsible for triggering the adrenal cortex into releasing hormones (cortisol, adrenaline) that prepare for the fight and flight response - that physical responsiveness so important for survival.
• It can be said that the dog's brain acts in a "hardwired" reflex-like way in response to each specific experience based on prior learning by association. This explains why not much success in changing behavior is attained through traditional training methods. We are working more at an emotional level than a cognitive one.
• Extinguishing a CER


  1. If the conditions stimulus no longer predicts the anticipated response the conditioned response will eventually disappear

  2. Can take a long time

  3. Can use methods to help it along: Desensitisation, Counter-conditioning
• Consequence drives behaviour


  Antecedent -> Behaviour -> Consequence
• Counterconditioning


  Altering an emotional response to a stimulus, replacing a conditioned emotional response (CER) with the opposite response, e.g. fear becomes confidence
• Desensitisation


  Sensitisation occurs when exposure to an unconditioned stimulus results in an increase in responsiveness, desensitisation is a reversal of that process
• Systematic desensitisation


  1. Work below threshold - animal notices stimulus but does not react

  2. Reinforce relaxed behaviour in presence of weak stimuli

  3. Gradually increase exposure - but always below threshold

  4. Finally no response is shown in presence of full stimuli

  5. If more that one stimulus is present desensitise each in turn
• Summary of key concepts

  • Habituation - the animal learns to ignore the stimulus
  • Sensitisation - increase in response to the stimulus
  • Counter Conditioning - changes a negative association to the stimulus to an opposite, highly positive emotional response
  • Systematic Desensitisation - the stimuli become inconsequential
  • Flooding - exposed to the stimuli for a fixed period of time and escape is not permitted
• Respondent conditioning


  CS, US, Drops of saliva, Acquisition, extinction & spontaneous recovery, Spontaneous recovery
• Other influences on learning


  • Type & intensity
  • Qualitative relationships
  • Instinctive drift
  • Salience – taste aversion II
  • Contrafreeloading (CFL)
• Contrafreeloading


  Animals work regardless of motivational state, animals work for food despite freely available identical food, explanations: food acquisition more reinforcing that food consumption, presence of stimulus provides expectancy effect that increases motivation & reinforcement
• Repeated, contingent and contiguous pairings give strong conditioning, other factors can influence learning, knowledge of the precise process that is occurring can give insights into apparently 'failed' behaviour change
• Stress and breed differences


  Effects on learning, breed differences, heritability, stress
• Genetics (breed), experience and environment all affect learning
• Stress


  Caused when the body attempts to redress the balance - homeostasis, poor diet, ill-health, poor environmental conditions
• Prolonged exposure to stress is harmful to health