The science of associating something with an activity is known as classical conditioning. The best example is the experiment conducted by Pavlov, a Russian scientist. Whenever he served food to his dog, he used to ring a bell. In the beginning, the dog used to salivate by looking at the food. Later he began associating the bell with the food and at a point in time, he used to salivate at the sound of the bell. This doesn’t mean that the actual noise of the ringing bell made him salivate. The dog associated the ringing of the bell with the food and that food or even the thought of it made him salivate.
Classical conditioning cannot actually make a dog sit or jump at a command, but it does change the way the pet feels about a particular situation. Classical conditioning gives explanation about the behaviour relating to a particular place, object or event. It explains how the emotional response is developed. The responses can be developed in an animal either intentionally or by chance. Also the trainer must remember that the change in the behaviour is irreversible most of the time.
In the above picture, this champion knows it must stand in that position whenever it is being judged or shown. It is conditioned to take that stance whenever its owner puts a hand on its tail and on the side of its head. It will remain unflinching in that stance until its owner releases it from that pose.
When Dad was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as a recruit, he had to learn to ride a horse. Because the horses used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride must perform in locations where sudden loud noises occur, they have to be conditioned to ignore these loud sounds and continue their equestrian routine. To condition the horses, they are taken into an indoor riding school where the riding master continually discharges a firearm containing blanks while the horses are performing. He also plays a tape containing loud strange noises. With a lot of repetitive exposure to this type of situation, the horses get so that they very seldom spook at sudden loud sounds. In this way there is less likelihood of the rider being thrown or the horse injuring itself or a spectator. However, as Dad learned, during this conditioning process, it can become really wild with horses bucking their riders off all over the place. It looked like an uncontrolled bucking bronco show at a wild west rodeo.
One of the most common behaviours dealt with in conditioned emotional response is fear. The fear can be instinctive, learned or caused by an unknown factor. For example, if a cat gets scared upon seeing a dog, this is instinctive fear. If the cat backs off upon seeing a raised hand, this is learned fear. This can happen in the case of an abused cat. If there is fear because of lack of exposure to a particular situation that has never happened before, this is known as fear of the unknown.
Conditioned emotional responses which are not liked or wanted, can be reduced with the help of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is broken into two types of treatment, namely desensitization and counter-conditioning. Desensitization is reducing the sensitivity of the animal toward a particular unavoidable situation, as described above in the horse training situation. The bad situation is created again and again until the animal becomes insensitive or doesn’t respond to it any more. For example, if an animal is given crate training, it is locked inside the crate again and again, until it gets used to staying locked inside the cage.
In counter-conditioning the animal is exposed to a lower degree of extremity. The intensity is less and as well a positive thing is presented to the animal. By doing this the pet begins to like the nasty situation. The pet is made to respond in a way which contradicts the current or previous reaction. For example, a pet doesn’t like to be locked up in the crate all the time. But this undesirable situation can be made to look pleasant if the pet is fed with a treat from time to time as long as it stays calmly inside the cage.
Negative counter conditioning is another technique, but it is used very rarely. For example, if a cat likes to bite the hand of the owner frequently, the owner can rub something distasteful on the hand. When the animal bites the hand, it will taste the distasteful substance. If this is done repeatedly, the cat will then associate the bad taste with the hand and will not bite again.
Classical conditioning is used to alter the way an animal reacts to a particular situation. With classical conditioning the animal can be made to like an unpleasant situation or dislike a pleasant situation.
Because there has been some negative connotations associated with the term Classical Conditioning, many trainers now refer to it as behavioural training which sounds more pleasant. In addition as more is learned about animals, better methods of training are being developed. Reward based training has almost completely replaced punishment based training, which is a very good and humane change.
Until next time,
Teia
No comments:
Post a Comment