P331.01

1. P331.01 Advanced Laboratory in Operant Conditioning

2. What is this course about? • Learning about and apply basic techniques in operant conditioning. • Theoretical concepts and basic techniques apply to any organism • BUT: must take individual organism and its unique behavior into consideration (biology matters!). • How apply? • Laboratory sessions • With rescue dogs from local foster homes • Goal is to get dogs ready for adoption by teaching them basic obedience skills and socialization training

3. Labs • 2 lab sections: • W/F from 10-11: TA will be Garrett • W/F from 11-12: TAs will be Sasha and Terry • You should be registered for one of those • You will be partnered up in the labs (you may choose your own partner) • You will be assigned a dog based on your dog experience and knowledge of operant conditioning.

4. Who are these dogs? • The dogs are part of a foster program for rescued dogs • Wishbone dog rescue • Australian Shepherd Rescue Midwest • Other dogs, as referred • Most of these dogs have been abandoned, abused, spent time in the shelter or were homeless • Many of these dogs have special needs • Behavioral needs: fearful; some mild aggression; too submissive, etc. • Some have physical disabilities: • Blind • Deaf • Blind AND deaf • Other physical limitations • Programs must be tailored to the needs of each dog….and you will learn how to do this (much like if you were working with a human client)

5. During the Labs • We will do some group work • You will work on individual behaviors for YOUR dog, depending on your dog’s needs • You will keep track of your dog(s)’s progress by taking DAILY data • You will also need to determine your dog’s • Breed • Sex • History • Breed specific traits that may be important • Foster family’s goals for the dog

6. What if my dog gets adopted right away? • First, that is terrific for the dog! • What do you do? You get another dog to work with…..and begin again with that dog. • Will this hurt my grade? • No; you will report on EACH dog you work with, be it one or many • I expect more progress from a dog that you have worked with for 15 weeks than for a dog that you only had access to for 1 week. • Remember: our ultimate goal is to get these dogs ADOPTED

7. What if I don’t know how to train or do something with my dog? • ASK for help • Trouble shoot and brainstorm with your lab group and class • Research and investigate via other resources • Conduct a functional analysis • Work through it! • Don’t give up on yourself or the dog!!!!!

8. Homework for Monday, Aug 20th • online IACUC training through CITI • Complete the basic Working with the IACUC module • http://www.rsp.ilstu.edu/research/ethics/training.shtml • Instructions may be found at: http://www.citiprogram.org/citidocuments/citiinstructions.htm • Use your ULID and choose a password • When get to Select curriculum: • Questions 1,2,3: answer “none of the above” • Question 4: choose “working with the IACUC” • Question 5: answer “none of the above” • Complete the modules!!!! • Complete reading and answer study guide- BRING TO CLASS • Find the lab and come in, sign in, and introduce yourself. • Lab is Felmley 230. • Phone is 438-8333 • Labs WILL meet this week

9. Classical Conditioning • Remember the Reflex Arc • Reflex is elicited by a stimulus • Classical conditoning is learning to react to a predictive stimulus • The predictive stimulus predicts the eliciting stimulus • The eliciting stimulus elicits the reflex • Learn to anticipate the reflex behavior so that it occurs to the predictive stimulus

10. Pavlov’s Contribution • Ivan Pavlov • Russian physiologist: Studied salivation • 1901: discovered and wrote about classical conditioning • Found that his dogs reacted to both his presence and the time of day for feeding/experimentation • Researched this: • Measured amount of salivation during baseline: • Present food to dogs • Measure slobber • Then added a predictive stimulus: a Bell • Presented the BellFood • Measured slobber to see if dogs would begin to slobber to the bell

13. Labeled each part of these events: • Unconditioned stimulus or US: • The stimulus that automatically elicited the behavior (usually innate) • E.g., the food elicited the slobber • Unconditioned response or UR • The behavior that is automatically elicited • Unlearned; often reflexive • Conditioned stimulus or CS: • The stimulus that predicts the US • Is a learned (thus conditioned) stimulus • Conditioned response or CR: • The behavior that occurs to the CS • Often very similar to the unconditioned response • Occurs because the CS predicts the US

14. Classical Conditioning Procedure

15. Order of presentation is very important!

16. The CR does not just suddenly Appear, rather it takes several trials Or sessions to learn the connection Between the CS and the US

17. Characteristics or Parametersof Classical Conditioning • Relationship between UR and CR • The UR and CR are not always identical! • Often are similar, or in similar family of behavior • Can be opposite: compensatory response • If predicted to go up, you respond by going down! • See this with drugs: • Morphine = lower BP, heart rate, feeling of cold, less pain • CR to morphine= higher BP, HR, feel hot, more pain • What could be predictive CS for morphine?

18. Characteristics or Parametersof Classical Conditioning • Strength of CR • Gradually increases with trials • E.g., slobber more after each CS-US pairing • Monotonically increasing curve: levels off • Reaches an asymptote: some maximum amount of CR • Why?

19. Characteristics or Parametersof Classical Conditioning • Extinction and Spontaneous recovery • Extinction: If stop CS-US pairing (CS nothing), then the CR will also fade away • Again, must be unlearned, or habituated! • Spontaneous recovery • Sometimes, when conditions are similar to CS, the animal shows the CR • Unpredictable; almost as if they “suddenly remembered” • More likely to occur when animal is stressed, tired, hungry, etc.

20. Characteristics or Parametersof Classical Conditioning • Relearning: • Relearning is faster than original learning • True if extinction occurred AND if just haven’t had the experience for a while • Important for drug, fear reactions! • Generalization and discrimination: • Generalization: CR will occur to stimuli that are similar to the original CS • Discrimination: Can train the animal so the CR only occurs to very specific CSs

21. Four procedures for classical conditioning • Remember: • CS should predict US or no CR • Predictability of CS is critical • Four procedures: • Simultaneous conditioning: • CS and US presented at same time • Delayed conditioning • CS turns off; US immediately turns on • US is delayed until end of CS • Trace conditioning • A delay is inserted between CS and US • Can test “memory” for pairing this way • Backward conditioning • US is presented BEFORE CS

23. Applications of Classical Conditioning • Learning Emotional Reactions • Learn that certain stimuli predict certain events • Learn to anticipate upcoming emotion • Show emotion to predictive stimulus • E.g., learn to be afraid of tornado watches, not just the tornado: • CStornadowatchUStornadoURfear Crfear • Demonstrates that most fears and many emotions may be learned • You are afraid of spiders because your mother startled you when you picked it up! • We ominous music with upcoming startle!

24. Little Albert Study • Watson and Raynor • Conditioned young child- Albert (about 18 mos old) • CSwhite ratUS loud noiseURfear CRfear • Then showed generalization to other objects with white fear (NOT Santa Claus!) • Were going to impose extinction, but Albert moved away!

25. How “undo” a learned fear? • Systematic desensitization • Teach client to relax first • Develop a “hierarchy” of fear-related stimuli and situations • The substitute predictive CS and CR as introduce to fear hierarchy • CSwhite ratUS relaxing cueUR relax CRrelax

26. Also use in pain control • Replace negative thoughts/cues with relaxation • Meditation • Yoga • Lamaze • Each uses a “cue” • The rosary • The mantra • A fixation point

27. Other uses • Can use it for “Avoidance” • Pair noxious stimuli with behavior; make afraid • Pair taste with nausea; won’t eat or smoke that again! • Sexual deviations: • Classically conditioned: weird sex stimulus is paired with sexual arousal (e.g., young girls) • So…..pair image of young girls with shock- not like anymore • Problem: generalization: switch to little boys! • Can also use flooding: • Flood with the CS you are afraid of • Massed trials: quickly learn that CS is now meaningless • Problems with this???? • Drug abuse: • Contextual cues are extremely strong • Predictive cues = friends, environment, the drug and setting itself • If take these cues away- can overdose • If cues return: cravings come back • Important to change friends and neighborhood when overcoming addiction • Advertising • Pair your product with a nice feeling • Why do we use puppies and kitties to sell toilet paper?

29. Classical conditioning versus Operant conditioning • Classical conditioning: • Pairing a predictive stimulus with eliciting stimulus • Animal engages in anticipatory behavior • No contingency: animal NOT have to make a response for eliciting stimulus to occur • CSUS • Operant or instrumental conditioning • Pairing a response with a consequence • Animal engages in a particular behavior and a particular event or stimulus occurs AS A RESULT of the behavior • IS a contingency: animal MUST respond to get the consequence • RSr or R P • Sr = reinforcing event • P = punishing event

30. The Law of Effect • Thorndike (1911): Animal Intelligence • Experimented with cats in a puzzle box • Put cats in the box • Cats had to figure out how to pull/push/move lever to get out; when out got reward • The cats got faster and faster with each trial • Law of Effect emerged from this research: • When a response is followed by a satisfying state of affairs, that response will increase in frequency.

32. E.L. Thorndike 1874-1949

33. Skinner’s version of Law of Effect • Had two problems with Thorndike’s law: • Defining “satisfying state of affairs” • Defining “increase” in behavior • Rewrote the law to be more specific: • Used words reinforcer and punisher • Idea of reinforcer is strengthening of relation between a R and Sr • Now defined reinforcement and punishment: • A reinforcer is any stimulus which increases the probability of a response when delivered contingently • A punisher is any stimulus which decreases the probability of a response when delivered contingently • Also noted could deliver reinforcers and punishers in TWO ways: • Add something: positive • Take away something: negative

34. Burris Fredric Skinner

35. Skinner box: Pigeon pecks or rat bar presses to receive reinforcers

36. Reinforcers vs. PunishersPositive vs. Negative • Reinforcer = rate of response INCREASES • Punisher = rate of response DECREASES • Positive: something is ADDED to environment • Negative: something is TAKEN AWAY from environment • Can make a 4x4 contingency table

37. Reinforcement Punishment PositivePositive Reinforcement (Positive) Punishment Add make bed-->10cent hit sister->spanked Stimulus Negative Negative Reinforcement Negative Punishment Remove make bed-> Mom stops hit sister->lose TV Stimulus nagging

38. Parameters or Characteristics of Operant Behavior • Strength of the response: • With each pairing of the R and Sr/P, the response-contingency is strengthened • The learning curve is • Monotonically ascending • Has an asymptote • There is a maximum amount of responding the organism can make

40. Parameters or Characteristics of Operant Behavior • Extinction of the response: • Remove the R Sr or RP contingency • Now the R  0 • Different characteristics than with classical conditioning: • Animal increases behavior immediately after the extinction begins: TRANSIENT INCREASE • Animal shows extinction-induced aggression! • Why?

42. More parameters: • Generalization can occur: • Operant response may occur in situations similar to the one in which originally trained • Can learn to behavior in many similar settings • Discrimination can occur • Operant response can be trained to very specific stimuli • Only exhibit response under specific situations • Can use a cue to teach animal: • S+ or SD : contingency in place • S- or S : contingency not in place • Thus: SD: RSr

43. Schedules of Reinforcement: • Continuous reinforcement: • Reinforce every single time the animal performs the response • Use for teaching the animal the contingency • Problem: Satiation • Solution: only reinforce occasionally • Partial reinforcement • Can reinforce occasionally based on time • Can reinforce occasionally based on amount • Can make it predictable or unpredictable

44. Partial Reinforcement Schedules • Fixed Ratio:every nth response is reinforced • Fixed interval:the first response after x amount of time is reinforced • Variable ratio:on average of every nth response is reinforced • Variable interval:the first response after an average of x amount of time is reinforced

48. Remember: in the real world, hard to tell CC from OC • Discriminative stimuli: S+ and S- • Are these operant stimuli or CS’s? • Think of learning on a continuum: • Habituation/very low level on one end • Higher cognitive behaviors on other • Many learning situations have components of several “categories” of learning- • These categories are artificial divisions made by scientists • Makes it easier to study a specific aspect • Not really “real world”