Canine Psychology & Behavior: Cues, Stimulus Control, and Reinforcement

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering conditioned emotional responses, poisoned cues, learned irrelevance, discriminative stimuli, motivating operations, reinforcement mechanics, and the Premack principle.

Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)

The automatic association of an emotional state with a specific stimulus, such as feeling excitement upon seeing a leash or experiencing fear of dogs after being bitten.

"Pavlov is Always Sitting on Your Shoulder"

A quote by Bob Bailey illustrating that classical conditioning is constantly occurring and creating automatic associations in the animal, even while conducting operant conditioning training.

Poisoned Cue

A cue that has acquired an unpleasant or stressful association, causing the dog to hesitate, refuse to perform the behavior, or perform an alternate behavior instead.

Remediation of a Poisoned Cue

The process of re-teaching the desired behavior from scratch and introducing an entirely new cue rather than attempting to transfer or repurpose the damaged cue.

Learned Irrelevance

A condition occurring when an animal ceases to respond to a stimulus because repeated exposure without consequence has taught them that the stimulus has no meaning or significance.

Spontaneous Recovery Distinction (Habituation vs. Learned Irrelevance)

The principle that habituated stimuli can undergo spontaneous recovery because they held meaning at some point in time, whereas stimuli subject to learned irrelevance never possessed meaningful consequences and do not spontaneously recover.

Guidelines for Verbal Cue Delivery

Rules stating that a verbal cue must be given only once, with definitive intonation rather than a questioning tone, and exclusively when the handler has the animal's attention.

Discriminative Stimulus ($S^D$)

An antecedent stimulus that precedes a behavior and signals that reinforcement is available, thereby setting the occasion for the response and increasing the likelihood of its occurrence.

$S^\Delta$ (S-Delta)

An antecedent stimulus that precedes a behavior and signals that reinforcement is unavailable, indicating that the behavior will undergo extinction.

$$S^P$$

An antecedent stimulus that precedes a behavior and signals that punishment will occur if the behavior is performed.

Reward Mechanics Sequence

The precise mechanical order required during positive reinforcement training: Cue $\rightarrow$ Behaviour $\rightarrow$ Click $\rightarrow$ Reach for pouch $\rightarrow$ Deliver.

Motivating Operations (MO) / Establishing Operations (EO)

Antecedent environmental conditions that alter and enhance the effectiveness or perceived value of a reinforcer (governing differential effectiveness rather than availability).

Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule where every correct response is rewarded, required during the learning stage of a behavior before progressing to criteria-raising or variable schedules.

Reinforcer

Any event, item, or access to an activity that motivates an animal and increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur again in the future.

Learner-Determined Reinforcement

The foundational behavioral principle that the learner, and never the trainer, dictates whether a given stimulus or item functions as a reinforcer.

Primary Reinforcer (Unconditioned Reinforcer)

An innate, biologically rooted reinforcer that fulfills physical survival needs without prior learning, such as food, water, sleep, sexual stimulation, and physical relief.

Secondary Reinforcer (Conditioned Reinforcer)

A previously neutral stimulus that acquires value through a history of consistent pairing with primary reinforcers, such as a clicker, verbal praise, or money.

Premack Principle

The operant conditioning principle stating that access to a high-probability (preferred) behavior can serve as reinforcement for engaging in a low-probability (non-preferred) behavior.