Husbandry Training 101

By JoAnne Simerson

"It's all about the reinforcers"

The goal of this workshop is to help you analyze the behavior of animals in your care in order to better manage them through operant conditioning. In other words: "Why are they doing that?" or "Why aren’t they doing this?"

We will begin by reviewing the principles of Operant Conditioning. After review, we will discuss the importance of reinforcement in shaping behavior and the critical role that observation – noticing what an animal considers reinforcing – plays in the success of your training program. We will demonstrate how effective a bridging stimulus can be in shaping behavior, and how problematic it can be if used improperly.

We then will devote time to problem-solving existing behavior management problems that you may be experiencing with animals in your care. By the end of this session, you should know what questions to ask yourself when beginning a behavior management project and you should know how to get the answers!

TRAINING TERMINOLOGY

Husbandry Training: Animal management realized by teaching an animal a desired behavior

Behavior: A broad term to connote all responses, muscular or glandular, of an organism

Classical conditioning: The response is reflexive, with the animal exercising no control over the situation and producing no change in the environment.

Operant conditioning: Animal obtains reinforcement by operating on the environment in some fashion

Reinforcer/reinforcement: Anything added that strengthens a behavior or increases the probability that it will occur again

Primary reinforcer: Anything of intrinsic value to an animal (i.e. food, water, reproduction). Unconditioned.

Secondary or Conditioned reinforcer: A previously neutral stimulus that has become reinforcing because of its association with a primary reinforcer

Bridging stimulus "bridge": A stimulus that signals the delivery of a reinforcer. A conditioned or secondary reinforcer.

Positive reinforcement: Anything added that strengthens the behavior preceding it

Negative reinforcement: Deters anything negative. Causes a behavior to occur so as to avoid the onset of an aversive stimulus.

Punishment: The removal of something positive or the addition of something negative

SD: Stimulus discrimination; signal that produces a behavior only in its presence and not in the presence of other stimuli

Correction: Signal to stop undesired behavior

Timeout: Withholding all reinforcement including personal contact with the intent of extinguishing an undesirable behavior. Should be neutral.

Shaping: Differential reinforcement of successive approximations in order to increase the probability of the occurrence of a behavior

Satiation/Deprivation: To satisfy fully or to excess/to withhold or remove

Extinction burst: Increase in the behavior brought about by the withdrawal of reinforcement. Such bursts occur prior to the decline and ultimate extinction of a behavior.

Animal History, natural history, personality

Enrichment=learning not entertaining