Learning Theory and Its Applications: Thorndike's Law of Effect and Hero Rats

Initial Question: How is a new skill learned? This question fascinated Edward Thorndike.
Experimental Setup: Thorndike built ingenious "puzzle boxes" from which cats could only escape by operating latches.
Observation: When first placed in the box, cats did not show any "flashes of insight." Instead, successful actions appeared to occur by chance.
Conclusion on Learning Mechanism: Thorndike believed animals, even clever cats, do not inherently understand the consequences of their behavior. Apparent cleverness arose through a process of trial and error.
Measurement of Learning: He used graphs to measure the rate of learning, observing that well-practiced cats quickly recalled actions leading to escape and reward.
The Law of Effect: Thorndike proposed that if an action brings a reward, that action becomes "stamped into the mind." He elaborated on this in his thesis, explaining that behavior changes due to its consequences. He called this the Law of Effect, which explains how even wild creatures develop new habits.

Strengthening a Response: A reinforcer aims to strengthen or increase a response.
Mechanism of Reinforcement: One way to strengthen a response is by removing an aversive stimulus.

Problem: Landmines from past wars still affect over 50 countries, causing permanent disabilities, hindering agriculture and development, and resulting in human tragedies. Nearly half of global landmine accidents last year involved children. Locating them with metal detectors is dangerous and slow due to scrap metal.
Solution: Apopo (Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development) trains giant African pouched rats, known as "hero rats," to detect landmines.
Hero Rat Characteristics: These rats are too light to set off landmines and possess an amazing sense of smell.
Detection Process:
- Hero rats systematically survey minefield areas.
- They are trained to smell only explosives and ignore scrap metal.
- Upon finding a landmine, they scratch on the surface to indicate its location.
- Clicker reward training ensures accuracy in their detection.
- Detected landmines are then carefully excavated and safely destroyed.
Efficiency: A single hero rat can check an area the size of a tennis court in just 30 minutes. This task would take a deminer with a metal detector up to 4 days.
Impact: By speeding up landmine detection, Apopo and the hero rats save lives and money, allowing people to return to their land, support families, expand their towns, and live without fear of landmines.