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Author Mills, D.S. openurl 
  Title Applying learning theory to the management of the horse: the difference between getting it right and getting it wrong Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Equine veterinary journal. Supplement Abbreviated Journal Equine Vet J Suppl  
  Volume Issue 27 Pages 44-48  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Horses/*psychology; *Learning; Reinforcement (Psychology)  
  Abstract Horses constantly modify their behaviour as a result of experience. This involves the creation of an association between events or stimuli. The influence of people on the modification and generation of certain behaviour patterns extends beyond the intentional training of the horse. The impact of any action depends on how it is perceived by the horse, rather than the motive of the handler. Negative and positive reinforcement increase the probability of specific behaviours recurring i.e. strengthen the association between events, whereas punishment reduces the probable recurrence of a behaviour without providing specific information about the desired alternative. In this paper the term 'punishers' is used to refer to the physical aids, such as a whip or crop, which may be used to bring about the process of punishment. However, if their application ceases when a specific behaviour occurs they may negatively reinforce that action. Intended 'punishers' may also be rewarding (e.g. for attention seeking behaviour). Therefore, contingency factors (which define the relationship between stimuli, such as the level of reinforcement), contiguity factors (which describe the proximity of events in space or time) and choice of reinforcing stimuli are critical in determining the rate of learning. The many problems associated with the application of punishment in practice lead to confusion by both horse and handler and, possibly, abuse of the former. Most behaviour problems relate to handling and management of the horse and can be avoided or treated with a proper analysis of the factors influencing the behaviour.  
  Address De Montfort University Lincoln, School of Agriculture and Horticulture, Caythorpe, Lincs., UK  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:10485004 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial (up) 845  
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Author Cooper, J.J. openurl 
  Title Comparative learning theory and its application in the training of horses Type Journal Article
  Year 1998 Publication Equine veterinary journal. Supplement Abbreviated Journal Equine Vet J Suppl  
  Volume Issue 27 Pages 39-43  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Conditioning (Psychology); Horses/*psychology; *Learning; Reinforcement (Psychology)  
  Abstract Training can best be explained as a process that occurs through stimulus-response-reinforcement chains, whereby animals are conditioned to associate cues in their environment, with specific behavioural responses and their rewarding consequences. Research into learning in horses has concentrated on their powers of discrimination and on primary positive reinforcement schedules, where the correct response is paired with a desirable consequence such as food. In contrast, a number of other learning processes that are used in training have been widely studied in other species, but have received little scientific investigation in the horse. These include: negative reinforcement, where performance of the correct response is followed by removal of, or decrease in, intensity of a unpleasant stimulus; punishment, where an incorrect response is paired with an undesirable consequence, but without consistent prior warning; secondary conditioning, where a natural primary reinforcer such as food is closely associated with an arbitrary secondary reinforcer such as vocal praise; and variable or partial conditioning, where once the correct response has been learnt, reinforcement is presented according to an intermittent schedule to increase resistance to extinction outside of training.  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:10485003 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial (up) 846  
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Author Christensen, J.W.; Rundgren, M.; Olsson, K. openurl 
  Title Training methods for horses: habituation to a frightening stimulus Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Equine veterinary journal Abbreviated Journal Equine Vet J  
  Volume 38 Issue 5 Pages 439-443  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; *Conditioning (Psychology); *Fear; Heart Rate/*physiology; Horses/physiology/*psychology; Learning; Male; Random Allocation; *Reinforcement (Psychology); Safety; Time Factors  
  Abstract REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Responses of horses in frightening situations are important for both equine and human safety. Considerable scientific interest has been shown in development of reactivity tests, but little effort has been dedicated to the development of appropriate training methods for reducing fearfulness. OBJECTIVES: To investigate which of 3 different training methods (habituation, desensitisation and counter-conditioning) was most effective in teaching horses to react calmly in a potentially frightening situation. HYPOTHESES: 1) Horses are able to generalise about the test stimulus such that, once familiar with the test stimulus in one situation, it appears less frightening and elicits a reduced response even when the stimulus intensity is increased or the stimulus is presented differently; and 2) alternative methods such as desensitisation and counter-conditioning would be more efficient than a classic habituation approach. METHODS: Twenty-seven naive 2-year-old Danish Warmblood stallions were trained according to 3 different methods, based on classical learning theory: 1) horses (n = 9) were exposed to the full stimulus (a moving, white nylon bag, 1.2 x 0.75 m) in 5 daily training sessions until they met a predefined habituation criterion (habituation); 2) horses (n = 9) were introduced gradually to the stimulus and habituated to each step before the full stimulus was applied (desensitisation); 3) horses (n = 9) were trained to associate the stimulus with a positive reward before being exposed to the full stimulus (counter-conditioning). Each horse received 5 training sessions of 3 min per day. Heart rate and behavioural responses were recorded. RESULTS: Horses trained with the desensitisation method showed fewer flight responses in total and needed fewer training sessions to learn to react calmly to test stimuli. Variations in heart rate persisted even when behavioural responses had ceased. In addition, all horses on the desensitisation method eventually habituated to the test stimulus whereas some horses on the other methods did not. CONCLUSIONS AND POTENTIAL RELEVANCE: Desensitisation appeared to be the most effective training method for horses in frightening situations. Further research is needed in order to investigate the role of positive reinforcement, such as offering food, in the training of horses.  
  Address Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Health, Welfare and Nutrition, Tjele, Denmark  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0425-1644 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16986605 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial (up) 1783  
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Author Ferguson, D.L.; Rosales-Ruiz, J. doi  openurl
  Title Loading the problem loader: the effects of target training and shaping on trailer-loading behavior of horses Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis Abbreviated Journal J Appl Behav Anal  
  Volume 34 Issue 4 Pages 409-423  
  Keywords Animals; *Conditioning, Operant; *Escape Reaction; Female; Horses/*psychology; Reinforcement (Psychology); *Transportation  
  Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop an effective method for trailer loading horses based on principles of positive reinforcement. Target training and shaping were used to teach trailer-loading behavior to 5 quarter horse mares in a natural setting. All 5 had been trailer loaded before through the use of aversive stimulation. Successive approximations to loading and inappropriate behaviors were the dependent variables. After training a horse to approach a target, the target was moved to various locations inside the trailer. Horses started training on the left side of a two-horse trailer. After a horse was loading on the left side, she was moved to the right side, then to loading half on the right and half on the left. A limited-hold procedure and the presence of a companion horse seemed to facilitate training for 1 horse. Inappropriate behaviors fell to zero immediately after target training, and all the horses successfully completed the shaping sequence. Finally, these effects were observed to generalize to novel conditions (a different trainer and a different trailer).  
  Address University of North Texas, Denton 76203, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0021-8855 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:11800182 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial (up) 1915  
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Author West, R.E.; Young, R.J. doi  openurl
  Title Do domestic dogs show any evidence of being able to count? Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 183-186  
  Keywords Animal Feed; Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; *Dogs; Female; Male; *Mathematics; Reinforcement (Psychology); Visual Perception  
  Abstract Numerical competence has been demonstrated in a wide range of animal species. The level of numerical abilities shown ranges from simple relative numerousness judgements to true counting. In this study we used the preferential looking technique to test whether 11 pet dogs could count. The dogs were presented with three simple calculations: “1+1=2”; “1+1=1”; and “1+1=3”. These calculations were performed by presenting the dogs with treats that were placed behind a screen that allowed manipulation of the outcome of the calculation. When the dogs expected the outcome they spent the same amount of time looking at the result of the calculation as they did on the initial presentation. However, when the result was unexpected dogs spent significantly longer looking at the outcome of the calculation. The results suggest that the dogs were anticipating the outcome of the calculations they observed, thus suggesting that dogs may have a rudimentary ability to count.  
  Address De Montfort University-Lincoln, Caythorpe, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG32 3EP, UK  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12357291 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial (up) 2594  
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Author Burke, D.; Cieplucha, C.; Cass, J.; Russell, F.; Fry, G. doi  openurl
  Title Win-shift and win-stay learning in the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 79-84  
  Keywords Animals; Echidna/*psychology; Ecology; Female; *Learning; *Memory; *Predatory Behavior; Reinforcement (Psychology)  
  Abstract Numerous previous investigators have explained species differences in spatial memory performance in terms of differences in foraging ecology. In three experiments we attempted to extend these findings by examining the extent to which the spatial memory performance of echidnas (or “spiny anteaters”) can be understood in terms of the spatio-temporal distribution of their prey (ants and termites). This is a species and a foraging situation that have not been examined in this way before. Echidnas were better able to learn to avoid a previously rewarding location (to “win-shift”) than to learn to return to a previously rewarding location (to “win-stay”), at short retention intervals, but were unable to learn either of these strategies at retention intervals of 90 min. The short retention interval results support the ecological hypothesis, but the long retention interval results do not.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. darren_burke@uow.edu.au  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12150039 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial (up) 2605  
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Author Cerutti, D.T.; Staddon, J.E.R. doi  openurl
  Title Immediacy versus anticipated delay in the time-left experiment: a test of the cognitive hypothesis Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 30 Issue 1 Pages 45-57  
  Keywords Animals; Choice Behavior/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae; Male; Models, Psychological; Psychological Theory; *Reinforcement (Psychology); *Reinforcement Schedule; Time Perception/*physiology  
  Abstract In the time-left experiment (J. Gibbon & R. M. Church, 1981), animals are said to compare an expectation of a fixed delay to food, for one choice, with a decreasing delay expectation for the other, mentally representing both upcoming time to food and the difference between current time and upcoming time (the cognitive hypothesis). The results of 2 experiments support a simpler view: that animals choose according to the immediacies of reinforcement for each response at a time signaled by available time markers (the temporal control hypothesis). It is not necessary to assume that animals can either represent or subtract representations of times to food to explain the results of the time-left experiment.  
  Address Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-1050, USA. cerutti@psych.duke.edu  
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  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:14709114 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial (up) 2768  
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Author Boysen, S.T.; Bernston, G.G.; Hannan, M.B.; Cacioppo, J.T. openurl 
  Title Quantity-based interference and symbolic representations in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Type Journal Article
  Year 1996 Publication Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 22 Issue 1 Pages 76-86  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cognition; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; *Pan troglodytes; *Reinforcement (Psychology); Task Performance and Analysis  
  Abstract Five chimpanzees with training in counting and numerical skills selected between 2 arrays of different amounts of candy or 2 Arabic numerals. A reversed reinforcement contingency was in effect, in which the selected array was removed and the subject received the nonselected candies (or the number of candies represented by the nonselected Arabic numeral). Animals were unable to maximize reward by selecting the smaller array when candies were used as array elements. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the candy arrays, all animals showed an immediate shift to a more optimal response strategy of selecting the smaller numeral, thereby receiving the larger reward. Results suggest that a response disposition to the high-incentive candy stimuli introduced a powerful interference effect on performance, which was effectively overridden by the use of symbolic representations.  
  Address Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  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:8568498 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial (up) 2781  
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Author Boysen, S.T.; Berntson, G.G. openurl 
  Title Responses to quantity: perceptual versus cognitive mechanisms in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Type Journal Article
  Year 1995 Publication Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 82-86  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; Choice Behavior; Cognition/*physiology; Female; *Pan troglodytes; Perception/*physiology; Reinforcement (Psychology); Task Performance and Analysis  
  Abstract Two chimpanzees were trained to select among 2 different amounts of candy (1-6 items). The task was designed so that selection of either array by the active (selector) chimpanzee resulted in that array being given to the passive (observer) animal, with the remaining (nonselected) array going to the selector. Neither animal was able to select consistently the smaller array, which would reap the larger reward. Rather, both animals preferentially selected the larger array, thereby receiving the smaller number of reinforcers. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the food arrays, however, the selector animal evidenced more optimal performance, immediately selecting the smaller numeral and thus receiving the larger reward. These findings suggest that a basic predisposition to respond to the perceptual-motivational features of incentive stimuli can interfere with task performance and that this interference can be overridden when abstract symbols serve as choice stimuli.  
  Address Comparative Cognition Project, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  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:7844508 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial (up) 2783  
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Author Kaplan, A.I.; Borodovskii, M.I. openurl 
  Title [Alternative animal behavior: a model and its statistical characteristics] Type Journal Article
  Year 1989 Publication Nauchnye Doklady Vysshei Shkoly. Biologicheskie Nauki Abbreviated Journal Nauchnye Doki Vyss Shkoly Biol Nauki  
  Volume Issue 3 Pages 29-32  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Male; Mathematics; *Models, Biological; *Models, Statistical; Rats; Reinforcement (Psychology)  
  Abstract The rats' alternative behaviour in T-maze at simultaneous two-sided food refreshment in 13 trials a day during 6 days has been studied. It has been found that in the first testing days the indexes of alternative behaviour of animals correspond to the characteristics of the random alternation. However, on the 5-6th day of testing in the overwhelming majority of rats the true deviation of alternation index above or below than the theoretical values has been revealed. A question on the existence of two strategies of cognitive behaviour alteration and perseveration in rat population is under discussion.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Russian Summary Language Original Title Al'ternativnoe povedenie zhivotnykh: model' i statisticheskie kharakteristiki  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0470-4606 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:2742929 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial (up) 2799  
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