6.4: Applied Use of Associative Learning and Summary

instinctive drift

difficulty in creating a learned response that conflicts with an animal’s natural responses

applied behavior analysis

subfield in psychology that uses methods of associative learning to improve behaviors

it is used especially in treating children on the autism spectrum

in training animals, secondary reinforcers like clickers are

associated with primary reinforcers like food or praise

it is difficult to train an animal to do a behavior that contradicts 

its natural behaviors, which is called instinctive drift 

dogs are trained to serve many essential functions in society, including

service dogs to help people with disabilities or psychological disorders, and scent-detecting dogs to find drugs, invasive species of plants and animals, and weapons and explosives

heroRATS are specially trained African giant pouch rats that have been trained to detect and locate landmines

but have also been trained to detect certain diseases in people, such as tuberculosis

classical conditioning is used to 

associate products with positive emotional states 

slot machines use variable ratio scheduling and secondary reinforcers like

bells and lights to maintain high levels of persistent playing

applied behavior analysis is a way to use principles of operant conditioning

to help children on the autism spectrum learn social skills and other desired behaviors

token economies are ways of 

providing secondary reinforcers (stickers, toys, or points) as rewards for good behavior