Behavior Modification Techniques

Behavior modification

Using training techniques and learning theory to train and change behaviors

Habituation

• animal gets “used to” repeated exposure to a stimulus that has neither positive nor negative consequences (has NO consequences, causes no harm, and brings no benefit)

  • animal no longer notices the presence of the stimulus

  • usually very specific

• two types

  • flooding

  • desensitization

Flooding

• exposing the subject to a stimulus of a very high intensity/high volume until it stops reacting to it

• animal learns to ignore the stimulus because it has no aversive or pleasurable consequences

• ex.

  • Dr. Dreschel has a breeding dog patient that was scared of grass because they had never seen it → owners put the dog in grass

• flooding normally does not work if the animal is exposed to something they are already scared of

• flooding is generally not recommended

  • inhumane

  • can lead to severe phobia, shut-down, PTSD

  • can also hypersensitize the animal to future events

Desensitize

• goal - decrease reactivity (fear/aggressive) to a specific stimulus that the animal usually has a reaction

• systemically presenting inciting stimulus at a sub-threshold level of intensity until habituation is achieved

• expose the stimulus gradually to decrease the response

  • often used with counterconditioning

• ex.

  • slowly playing thunderstorm noises at increasing volume until the animal is used to it

Counterconditioning

• goal - fix or change a behavior and/or the underlying emotional state of the animal

• replace a behavior or emotional state with an alternative behavior or emotional state that completely interferes with performing the undesirable behavior or experiencing that emotional state

• ex.

  • dog is stressed around another dog → give treats around the other dog until the first dog is more relaxed

  • training a dog to go to a certain location and sit down instead of jumping up at the door

  • training a dog to associate something they are scared of with good things

Does giving treats reward aggressive behavior?

I.e. giving treats when growling could be positive reinforcement

Things to keep in mind with conditioning and training

• what is the animal’s perspective (can they see, hear, etc.)

• what is the animal’s underlying emotional state

• is the animal able to learn?

• what is the animal’s motivation?

  • is there other inherent motivation

    • ex. some rewards may outweigh punishment → thanksgiving turkey off the counter is better than getting sprayed

    • is the reward pleasant enough or is the punishment aversive enough

Communication

• what is the animal actually learning

  • what cues are they picking up on

• dogs and cats learn more from actions that words - nonverbal communication is more important to them

• ability to follow pointing

  • two-way choice task

  • momentary distal pointing

Social referencing-attentional state

dogs have been shown to be sensitive to our attentional state

Generalization

• dogs are very context specific - associate learning with olfactory, visual, auditory cues - generalization of training is important

  • may learn something in one context, need to generalize another context

• proofing behaviors

  • perform the behaviors in many locations and under different circumstances

Social learning and social facilitation

• learning how to do things by watching others

  • other conspecifics

  • other species

• “peer pressure”