|
Records |
Links |
|
Author |
McLean, A.N.; Christensen, J.W. |
|
|
Title |
The application of learning theory in horse training |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2017 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
|
|
Volume |
190 |
Issue |
|
Pages |
18-27 |
|
|
Keywords |
Behaviour; Conflict theory; Desensitisation; Habituation; Reinforcement; Stress |
|
|
Abstract |
The millennia-old practices of horse training markedly predate and thus were isolated from the mid-twentieth century revelation of animal learning processes. From this standpoint, the progress made in the application and understanding of learning theory in horse training is reviewed including a discussion of how learning processes are employed or otherwise under-utilised in training. This review describes the process of habituation and the most commonly applied desensitisation techniques (systematic desensitisation, counter-conditioning, overshadowing, response prevention) and propose two additional techniques (approach conditioning and stimulus blending). The salience of different types of cues, the interaction of operant and classical conditioning and the impact of stress are also discussed. This paper also exposes the inflexibility and occasional inadequacy of the terminology of learning theory when translated from the research laboratory situation to the practical setting in horse training. While learning theory provides a rich toolbox for riders and trainers, the training process is subject to the simultaneous use of multiple learning processes. In addition, learning/behavioural outcomes and trained responses are not just the result of simple stimulus-response based interactions but are further shaped by arousal, affective and attachment states. More research is needed in these areas. For the field of equitation science to progress and to improve clarity and use of learning processes, changes in nomenclature are required. In particular, the use of the terms 'positive' and 'negative' as descriptive labels in both reinforcement and punishment modalities are unacceptably misleading for everyday use. These labels inhibit the understanding and recognition of the learning processes that these terms supposedly represent, yet the learning processes they describe are vital for horse riders, handlers and trainers to understand. We therefore propose that these labels should be re-labelled more appropriately as 'addition' or 'subtraction' reinforcement/punishment. This would enlighten trainers on the correct application of learning theory, and safety and welfare benefits for people and horses would follow. Finally it is also proposed that the term 'conflict theory' be taken up in equitation science to facilitate diagnosis of training-related behaviour disorders and thus enable the emergence of improved training practices. The optimal use of learning theory should be established as a fundamental principle in equestrian education. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
0168-1591 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
6597 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Boughner, R.L.; Papini, M.R. |
|
|
Title |
Appetitive latent inhibition in rats: preexposure performance does not predict conditioned performance |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
|
|
Volume |
72 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
42-51 |
|
|
Keywords |
Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Association Learning; *Conditioning, Classical; *Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Individuality; *Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Motivation; Rats; Rats, Wistar; *Reaction Time |
|
|
Abstract |
Nonreinforced preexposure to a conditioned stimulus impairs subsequent conditioning with that stimulus. The goal of these studies was to assess the extent to which acquisition performance could be predicted from preexposure performance using a correlational approach. For both preexposure and autoshaping, four measures of performance were computed, including overall average lever pressing, lever pressing in the initial session, percentage change in lever pressing, and slopes. These measures were correlated in a large sample of rats trained in an autoshaping situation. None of the three measures of autoshaping performance was consistently predicted by any of the three measures of preexposure performance. These results are consistent with the view that latent inhibition is not reducible to long-term habituation. |
|
|
Address |
Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, TX 76129, United States |
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
0376-6357 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
PMID:16406375 |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4147 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Nelson, E.E.; Shelton, S.E.; Kalin, N.H. |
|
|
Title |
Individual differences in the responses of naive rhesus monkeys to snakes |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Emotion (Washington, D.C.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Emotion |
|
|
Volume |
3 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
3-11 |
|
|
Keywords |
Animals; *Arousal; Attention; Escape Reaction; *Fear; Female; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Individuality; Macaca mulatta/*psychology; Male; Phobic Disorders/psychology; *Snakes |
|
|
Abstract |
The authors demonstrated individual differences in inhibited behavior and withdrawal responses of laboratory-born rhesus monkeys when initially exposed to a snake. Most monkeys displayed a small significant increase in their behavioral inhibition in the presence of a snake. A few monkeys had marked responses, and some actively withdrew. Although the responses of the most extreme laboratory-born monkeys were comparable to feral-born monkeys, the responses of the laboratory-born monkeys rapidly habituated. The individual differences in the responses of naive monkeys likely reflect a continuum from orienting to wariness to fear. A neurobiological model is presented that addresses potential mechanisms underlying these individual differences, their relation to fear, and how they may predispose to phobia development. |
|
|
Address |
Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53719-1176, USA |
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
1528-3542 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
PMID:12899313 |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4174 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Dorrance, B.R.; Zentall, T.R. |
|
|
Title |
Imitation of conditional discriminations in pigeons (Columba livia) |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
|
|
Volume |
116 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
277-285 |
|
|
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Columbidae; Conditioning (Psychology)/*physiology; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Imitative Behavior; Light; Reinforcement (Psychology) |
|
|
Abstract |
In the present experiments, the 2-action method was used to determine whether pigeons could learn to imitate a conditional discrimination. Demonstrator pigeons (Columba livia) stepped on a treadle in the presence of 1 light and pecked at the treadle in the presence of another light. Demonstration did not seem to affect acquisition of the conditional discrimination (Experiment 1) but did facilitate its reversal of the conditional discrimination (Experiments 2 and 3). The results suggest that pigeons are not only able to learn a specific behavior by observing another pigeon, but they can also learn under which circumstances to perform that behavior. The results have implications for proposed mechanisms of imitation in animals. |
|
|
Address |
Department of Psychology, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois 61201, USA. psdorrance@augustana.edu |
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
0735-7036 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
PMID:12234078 |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
240 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Skov-Rackette, S.I.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
|
|
Title |
What do rats learn about the geometry of object arrays? Tests with exploratory behavior |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
|
|
Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
142-154 |
|
|
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Discrimination Learning; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; *Form Perception; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans |
|
|
Abstract |
Six experiments using habituation of exploratory behavior tested whether disoriented rats foraging in a large arena encode the shapes of arrays of objects. Rats did not respond to changes in position of a single object, but they responded to a change in object color and to a change in position of 1 object in a square array, as in previous research (e.g., C. Thinus-Blanc et al., 1987). Rats also responded to an expansion of a square array, suggesting that they encoded sets of interobject distances rather than overall shape. In Experiments 4-6, rats did not respond to changes in sense of a triangular array that maintained interobject distances and angles. Shapes of object arrays are encoded differently from shapes of enclosures. |
|
|
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shannon.skov.rackette@utoronto.ca |
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
0097-7403 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
PMID:15839772 |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
363 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Shettleworth, S.J.; Sutton, J.E. |
|
|
Title |
Multiple systems for spatial learning: dead reckoning and beacon homing in rats |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
|
|
Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
125-141 |
|
|
Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cues; *Feeding Behavior; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Homing Behavior; *Learning; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; *Space Perception |
|
|
Abstract |
Rats homed with food in a large lighted arena. Without visual cues, they used dead reckoning. When a beacon indicated the home, rats could also use the beacon. Homing did not differ in 2 groups of rats, 1 provided with the beacon and 1 without it; tests without the beacon gave no evidence that beacon learning overshadowed dead reckoning (Experiment 1). When the beacon was at the home for 1 group and in random locations for another, there was again no evidence of cue competition (Experiment 2). Dead reckoning experience did not block acquisition of beacon homing (Experiment 3). Beacon learning and dead reckoning do not compete for predictive value but acquire information in parallel and are used hierarchically. |
|
|
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
0097-7403 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
PMID:15839771 |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
364 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Mitchell, D.; Kirschbaum, E.H.; Perry, R.L. |
|
|
Title |
Effects of neophobia and habituation on the poison-induced avoidance of exteroceptive stimuli in the rat |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
1975 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
|
|
Volume |
1 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
47-55 |
|
|
Keywords |
Animals; Avoidance Learning/*drug effects; *Awareness; *Cognition; Conditioning, Operant; Feeding Behavior/drug effects; *Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Lithium/administration & dosage/poisoning; Male; Rats; *Taste; Time Factors; *Visual Perception |
|
|
Abstract |
Two experiments on the role of neophobia in poison-induced aversions to exteroceptive stimuli are reported. In Experiment 1, rats were given either 10 or 25 days of habituation to the test situation prior to conditioning. Those animals with the longer habituation period avoided a complex of novel exteroceptive stimuli while those with the shorter habituation period did not. In Experiment 2 rats initially avoided the more novel of two containers, but gradually came to eat equal amounts from both. A single pairing of toxicosis with consumption from either the novel or the familiar container reinstated the avoidance of the novel container in both cases. The results were discussed in terms of an interaction between habituation and conditioning procedures. It was suggested that previously reported differences between interoceptive and exteroceptive conditioning effects may have been influenced by the differential novelty of the two classes of stimuli in the test situation. It was further suggested that non-contingently poisoned control groups should routinely be included in poison avoidance conditioning studies. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
English |
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
0097-7403 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
PMID:1151289 |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2791 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Christensen, J.W. |
|
|
Title |
Object habituation in horses: Voluntary vs. negatively reinforced approach to frightening stimuli |
Type |
Conference Article |
|
Year |
2012 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. 2. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
|
|
Volume |
in press |
Issue |
|
Pages |
|
|
|
Keywords |
Habituation; learning; fearfulness; stress; reinforcement |
|
|
Abstract |
The ability and ease of horses to habituate to frightening stimuli greatly increases safety in the horse-human relationship. Several different techniques have been suggested for habituation training of horses and under certain conditions, preventing animals from avoidance reactions during exposure to frightening stimuli is believed to facilitate habituation. Response prevention does, however, lead to a loss of control, which is a known stress inducer in both animals and humans. This experiment investigated whether horses show increased stress responses when negatively reinforced to approach a mildly frightening stimulus, compared to horses allowed to voluntarily explore the same stimulus. We further investigated whether the prevention of avoidance responses in horses that are negatively reinforced to approach the stimulus, facilitates habituation to the stimulus. Twenty-two 2-3 years old Danish warmblood geldings were included in the study. Half of the horses (NR group) were negatively reinforced (through halter and rope pressure) by a familiar human handler to approach a collection of frightening objects (six open and colourful umbrellas) placed in a semi-circle in a familiar test arena. The other half of the horses were released in the arena and were free to avoid or explore the objects (VOL group). On the next day, all horses were exposed to the objects again without a human to investigate the rate of habituation. Behavioural and heart rate responses were recorded on both days. Data were analysed in a two way repeated measures ANOVA and post hoc analysed via the Holm-Sidak method. In the VOL group, all horses initially chose to avoid the unknown objects, whereas the handler managed to get all horses in the NR group to approach and stand next to the objects within the first 2-min session. As expected, horses in the NR group had a significantly longer duration of alertness (sec, mean ± se: NR: 23 ± 4.1 vs. VOL: 16 ± 4.7, P=0.026) and a higher max HR in the first session (bpm, mean ± se: NR: 106 ± 5.2 vs. VOL: 88 ± 4.4, P=0.004). On the next day, however, the NR horses spent significantly less time investigating the objects (sec, mean ± se: NR: 13 ± 4.1 vs. VOL: 24 ± 6.0, P=0.005) and had a shorter latency to approach a feed container, placed next to the objects (sec, mean ± se: NR: 25 ± 3.9 vs. VOL: 47 ± 16.2, P=0.031), indicating increased habituation. In conclusion, negatively reinforced approach to mildly frightening objects appears to increase stress responses during the initial exposure, but also to facilitate habituation in young horses. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
Christensen, J.W. |
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
Xenophon Publishing |
Place of Publication |
Wald |
Editor |
Krueger, K. |
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
978-3-9808134-26 |
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5499 |
|
Permanent link to this record |