Learning and motivation: Mazes, aversion and operant conditioning

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Learning and motivation Mazes, aversion and
operant conditioning

• Dr. Anna Johnson
• Week 11
• Thursday 12th April 2007

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Students please note I have included quite a few
links to web pages that will help define and
explain concepts in this (and future weeks)
slides. Therefore, for the links to work you need
to be on-line and have access to the internet.
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Today

• Mazes
• Aversion
• Operant Conditioning

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Mazes
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Types of mazes

• Classical maze
• T maze
• Multiple t-maze
• Y maze
• Radial Y maze
• Elevated plus maze
• Morris water maze

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Classical Maze
http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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T - Mazes
http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
http//btc.bol.ucla.edu/id27.htm
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Questions from a T Maze?

• Side preferences
• Learning
• Preference

http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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The Multiple T-maze
http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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Questions from a multiple T Maze?

• Cognitive maps and latent learning
• Place learning vs. response learning

http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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The Y-maze
http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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Questions from a Y Maze?

• Novelty and memory

http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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Piglet Motivation

• Y-maze tests piglet relative motivations
• Mothers odor is learned by 12 hours of age
• Piglet motivation to be near the odor of their
  mother is stronger than their motivation for heat

A
B
John McGlone Lab, TTU
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The radial arm maze
http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
Maze Types
Maze Types II
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Questions from a Radial Arm Maze

• Short-term memory
• Behavioral neuroscience

http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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Elevated Plus Maze
http//www.med-associates.com/mazes/elevated-maze.
htm
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The Morris water maze
Wee rat!
http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
http//btc.bol.ucla.edu/id27.htm
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Questions from a Water Maze?

• Spatial learning, place learning, cognitive maps
  and memory
• Behavioral neuroscience

http//www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm
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MI State Work

• Kind thanks to Dr. J. Siegford, MSU
• Three abstracts
• Acute stress impairs spatial learning and social
  recognition in early-weaned pigs. AS Souza, K
  Laughlin, JM Siegford, AJ Zanella.
• Maze Tasks Effect on Salivary Cortisol of Pigs
  at Weaning and on Subsequent Fear Response. JM
  Siegford, G Rucker, AJ Zanella
• Correlating spatial learning, social
  recognition, and aggression in young pigs. JM
  Siegford, AS Souza, J Jansen, AJ Zanella
• Two Powerpoints
• Please review these after this lecture

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Aversion
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Information on the following slides from
Full paper on the class home page for you.

• Using Aversion Learning Techniques to Assess the
  Mental State, Suffering and Welfare of Farm
  Animals
• J. Rushen
• J. Anim. Sci. 1996 741990-1995

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Aversion the background

• Emphasis is upon understanding the structural
  basis of consciousness
• Emphasis is upon understanding the function of
  mental states
• Humans suffering
• Pain,
• Fear,
• Boredom,
• Anxiety,
• Hunger.
• Similar logic can be applied to measure suffering
  in animals
• Animals can learn to predict, from certain cues
  or signals, how they are to be handled, and then
  show some aversion to these signals

Rushen, 1996
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Social learning Rushen 1986
AVERSION..
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Factors that affect memory

• Factors that could affect memory or learning
  ability need to be carefully controlled
• Horses - learning
• Cattle learning in a chute

Rushen, 1996
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Punishment

• The animal is punished for performing a
  particular behavior
• The aversiveness of the treatment is shown by the
  extent that the animal stops performing that
  particular behavior
• Avoidance learning the animal must learn to
  perform a behavior in order to avoid the
  treatment
• Often avoidance-learning procedures are not
  reliable

Rushen, 1996
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SO.

• A common method of determining the relative
  aversion of handling methods is to allow the
  animals to choose between them

Rushen, 1996
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Free choice vs. Forced choice

• Sheep in a Y-maze (Rushen 1986a)
• Choice procedures may allow us to rank one or
  more handling methods in terms of the animals
  preference, but alone they do not allow us to say
  that a handling method is aversive
• To determine the degree of aversion, it is
  necessary to make animals pay some cost, for
  example loss of access to food, in order to avoid
  the procedures (Rushen, 1986c)

Rushen, 1996
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Advantages of aversion learning techniques

• More useful than traditional behavioral measures
  when widely different handling procedures are
  compared
• More able than physiological measures to
  discriminate among different handling methods
• More easily interpretable than either
  physiological or other behavioral measures

Rushen, 1996
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Examples of using aversion testing
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Electo-immobilization

• Studies using aversion-learning techniques,
  however, clearly showed that electro
  immobilization was more aversive than physical
  restraint for both cattle (Pascoe, 1986) and
  sheep (Grandin et al., 1986 Rushen, 1986d
  Rushen and Congdon, 1986).

Rushen, 1996
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Ewes discriminate between alleys by six 4- x
40-cm yellow tape strips 3 cm apart (vertical on
the electro-immobilizer side, horizontal on the
other) were placed just past the Y's fork on
panels on both sides of both alleys.
Windowless
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Human Animal Relationships

• Many of the handling treatments that animals
  find aversive are performed by humans
• Gonyou et al. (1986) showed that pigs that were
  handled pleasantly (i.e., stroked and petted) had
  higher growth rates than pigs handled
  unpleasantly (shocked)
• Dairy farmers who touch and speak to their cows
  more often tend to have higher-producing cows,
  and the higher-producing cows allow the farmers
  to approach more closely, suggesting that they
  show less aversion to them (Seabrook, 1984)
• De Passille et al. (1996) specifically examined
  how young calves learn to associate aversive
  handling treatments with handlers and how they
  learn to discriminate between different handlers

Rushen, 1996
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Model of human animal interactions Hemsworth et
al., 2003
Caretaker
Animal
Prod. Health
Attitudes
Behavior
Fear
Stress
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Handling Effects on Fear Responses Time to
interact with human (Hemsworth et al., 1986)
a
b
c
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Handling Effects on Gilt Fertility (Pregnancy
rate, (Hemsworth et al., 1986)
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Training effects on ppsy (weaned) (McGlone
and Blackshaw, 1996)
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Operant Conditioning
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Learning theory

• Different theories of learning
• Instincts,
• Social facilitation,
• Observation,
• Formal teaching,
• Memory,
• Mimicry,
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning (OC)

http//www.wagntrain.com/OC/
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Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning is the use of consequences
  to modify the occurrence and form of behavior
• Deals with the modification of voluntary behavior
  through the use of consequences
• Operant conditioning, sometimes called
  instrumental conditioning or instrumental
  learning, was first extensively studied by Edward
  L. Thorndike (1874-1949)
• Theorized that successful responses, those
  producing satisfying consequences, were "stamped
  in" by the experience and thus occurred more
  frequently
• Unsuccessful responses, those producing annoying
  consequences, were stamped out and subsequently
  occurred less frequently
• In short, some consequences strengthened behavior
  and some consequences weakened behavior
• B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) built upon Thorndike's
  ideas to construct a more detailed theory of
  operant conditioning based on reinforcement,
  punishment, and extinction.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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What is operant conditioning

• Term used to describe the effects of the
  consequences of a particular behavior on the
  future occurrence of that behavior
• Five types of operant conditioning
• Strengthen behavior
• Positive reinforcement,
• Negative reinforcement strengthen behavior.
• Weaken behavior
• Punishment,
• Response cost,
• Extinction.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Glossary of terms to help..

• The technical term for "an event started" or "an
  item presented" is positive, since it's something
  that's added to the animal's environment.
• The technical term for "an event ended" or "an
  item taken away" is negative, since it's
  something that's subtracted from the animal's
  environment.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Glossary of terms to help..

• Anything that increases a behavior - makes it
  occur more frequently, makes it stronger, or
  makes it more likely to occur - is termed a
  reinforcer.
• Often, an animal (or person) will perceive
  "starting Something Good" or "ending Something
  Bad" as something worth pursuing, and they will
  repeat the behaviors that seem to cause these
  consequences.
• These consequences will increase the behaviors
  that lead to them, so they are reinforcers. These
  are consequences the animal will work to attain,
  so they strengthen the behavior.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Glossary of terms to help..

• Anything that decreases a behavior - makes it
  occur less frequently, makes it weaker, or makes
  it less likely to occur - is termed a punisher
• Often, an animal (or person) will perceive
  "ending Something Good" or "starting Something
  Bad" as something worth avoiding, and they will
  not repeat the behaviors that seem to cause these
  consequences.
• These consequences will decrease the behaviors
  that lead to them, so they are punishers.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Positive Reinforcement

• Something Good can start or be presented, so
  behavior increases Positive Reinforcement (R)
• A positive or pleasant stimulus is used in the
  process
• The reinforcer is added
• In positive reinforcement, a positive reinforcer
  is added after a response and increases the
  frequency of the response.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Example

• dolphin gets a fish for doing a trick.
• The dog gets a piece of liver for returning when
  called.
• The cat gets comfort for sleeping on the bed.
• The wolf gets a meal for hunting the deer.
• The dog gets attention from his people when he
  barks.
• The dog gets to play in the park for pulling her
  owner there.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Negative Reinforcement

• Something Bad can end or be taken away, so
  behavior increases Negative Reinforcement (R-)
• A negative or aversive stimulus is used in the
  process
• The reinforcer is subtracted
• In negative reinforcement, after the response the
  negative reinforcer is removed which increases
  the frequency of the response

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Examples

• The window looking into the other monkey's
  enclosure is shut when the first monkey bites the
  trainer
• The dog is put on leash and taken from the park
  for coming to the owner when the owner called
  (this causes the unintentional result of the dog
  being less likely to respond to the recall)
• The dolphin trainer walks away with the fish
  bucket when the dolphin acts aggressive.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Punishment

• Something Bad can start or be presented, so
  behavior decreases Positive Punishment (P)
• Something Good can end or be taken away, so
  behavior decreases Negative Punishment (P-)
• Weakens a behavior by adding a negative stimulus
• After a response a negative or aversive stimulus
  is added which weakens the frequency of the
  response.

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Examples

• The peeing on the rug (by a puppy) is punished
  with a swat of the newspaper
• A dog's barking is punished with a startling
  squirt of citronella

Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Skinner Box
Wiepkema, http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Schedules of reinforcement

• Four types of reinforcement schedules
• Variable ratio
• Fixed ratio
• Variable interval
• Fixed interval

http//chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/opera
nt.html
Schedules of reinforcement
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Variable Ratio
http//chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/opera
nt.html
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Fixed Ratio
http//chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/opera
nt.html
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Variable - Interval
http//chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/opera
nt.html
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Fixed Interval Schedule
http//chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/opera
nt.html
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Homework Assignment

• I will allocate each of you a paper for you to
  write your abstract on (1) what this is and (2)
  the challenges and positives associated with
  this.
• Send you abstracts out to the class by Wednesday
  11th April Noon Central
• Students to present their abstracts in class on
  Thursday 12th April 2007

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Homework Assignment

• Papers can be found on the class home page
• Class home page

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Homework Assignment

• Needed for the abstract
• Describe the objective (s)
• Brief materials and methods
• Detail on the tool or test used (maybe link to a
  web page if useful)
• What does it measure
• How does it measure?
• How can the information be downloaded and used?
• How is the item fixed onto the animals etc.,
• Identify in your opinion one challenge and one
  positive for this tool or tests as your
  conclusion statement

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Homework assignment

• Report the results, and conclusions
• Please follow the guidelines for writing style as
  if you are a PRIMARY Reviewer these can be
  found in the class syllabus
• Any concerns e-mail me johnsona_at_iastate.edu

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Thanks !