Chapter 8

Operant Applications

HeroRats

• African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus)

• Trained for landmine and tuberculosis detection

• Uses classical and operant learning principles

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rat_eating_ban.jpg

Why Giant Pouched Rats?

• Indigenous to Africa• Lives up to 8 years in captivity• Big (0.7-1.5 kg), but not “kaboom!-

big”• Calm, easily handled• Can work with multiple human

handlers• Don’t get bored easily; very

motivated by food!• Quick to train (into field in 8-12

months); don’t need obedience training

Details

• Landmines– About 500,000 landmines in Mozambique– One rat can cover 200 m2 in one hour, the equivalent of

two days work for a human manual de-miner– 2006-2007, operating around three villages, 73,485 m2

cleared of ordinance, benefiting 266 families

• Tuberculosis– As accurate as human lab technicians– Nearly 100 times faster than human (40 samples in 7

minutes, or two days microscopy work for a lab technician)

Training

• Start young (5 weeks)• Socialization/habituation

– E.g., pass generators, walk on wet grass, ride in cars, meet new people, etc.

• Classical conditioning– Clicker training

• Operant learning– Discrimination training– Respond (scratch) only in presence

of specific smells to receive food treat

Training

• Classical conditioning– Clicker training

Training

• Operant learning– Discrimination training– Respond (scratch) only in presence of specific

smells to receive food treat

Training• Controlled conditions

– Scratch if buried TNT smelled

• Field training– Scratch if real (but defused) landmine smelled

Certification• Harnessed to run along search grid

• Same certification for landmine detecting dogs

• Final test is “blind” (handlers don’t know mine locations)

Fully Certified and in the Field

HeroRats in Action

• Detecting tuberculosis

• Landmines

APOPO founder, Bart Weetjens, and HeroRat

Self-Awareness

Definitional Issues

• Self-awareness, consciousness

• Being able to observe your own behaviour

• Foresight, planning, self-recognition

Observing the World

• Understanding another’s behaviour beneficial

• Reinforcement through watching others

Observing Self

• Self-knowledge provides benefits

• Prediction of behavioural outcomes

• Appropriate response patterns

• Reinforcing results

Gallup’s Mirror Self-Recognition Task

• Chimpanzees with mirror

• Stages

• Paint dot

• Changed appearance?

• Mental self-image

• Children

General Reinforcement of Self-Observation?

• Skinner• Kinds of questions we ask children reinforces

self-observation• Shaping• e.g., “are you hungry?” “what are you doing?”• Accurate response likely results in some form

of desired outcome (i.e., reinforcement of behaviour)

Self-Control

Self-Control

• Choice

• Forgoing a small, immediate reinforcer for large, delayed reinforcer

• Not easy

• Adults, children, non-humans

• Techniques

Physical Restraint

• Physically prevent behaviour from occurring

• e.g., Gorilla playface

• e.g., liquor cabinet

• e.g., credit cards

Distancing

• Behaviour more likely to occur in specific environment

• Avoid environment to assist self-control

• e.g., smokers who want to quit should avoid places where smokers frequent

Distraction

• Engage in behaviour incompatible with undesired behaviour

• DRI

• e.g., want a snack, go for a walk

Deprivation and Satiation

• To avoid excesses

• e.g., to avoid overeating at party, eat small meal earlier

• Partial satiation

Assistance

• Inform others of your goals

• Get help

• Changes the environment

• e.g., friends may be “enablers”

Behavioural Monitoring

• Keep track of your own behaviour

• Notebook, graphs, etc.

• Out-of-sight, out-of-mind

• Visible indicators– Dieters in room with candy bowl; wrappers

Verbal Behaviour

Skinner (1957)• Verbal Behavior• Suggests ideas not encoded into words by

speaker and decoded by listener• Words are behaviours• Functional relationship between a word and

an outcome (i.e., reinforcement or punishment)

• Social consequences provide shaping and maintenance of language

Early Shaping of Words

• Babies babble

• Parents reinforce certain sounds with attention, etc.

• Increases frequency of these sounds

• Gradually, reinforcement for more complex vocalizations only

Shaping Language?

• Greenspoon (1955)– Plural nouns in word lists

• Verplanck (1955)– Use of opinion statements

• Quay (1959)– Therapists; statements about family members

Complex

• Life-long reinforcement (and punishment) history

• Influences vocal behaviour in complicated ways

• Much vocal reinforcement without conscious knowledge

Insightful Problem Solving

Problem Solving

• Trial and error

• Sudden solution; insight– Skip intermediate steps

Kohler (1927)

• Chimpanzees

• 2 short sticks that slot together

• Need longer stick to reach fruit outside cage

• Chimp suddenly “got it”

Dissenting Views

• Many studies show learning to be a slow, gradual process

• Intermediate steps

• Reinforcement history

• Past experiences

• Observational learning

Creativity

Can Creativity be Shaped?

• Novelty, original behaviour

• Provide reinforcement only for novel behaviour produces novel behaviours

• Pryor’s (1969): dolphins and pigeons

• Various studies with children

• Japanese business model: R&D

Rewards and Creativity• Some studies suggest rewards reduce

creativity

• Design: reward for task vs. no reward for task– More creative responses in no reward group– But, task completion, not creativity, is

reinforced here

Superstition

Accidental Conditioning

• B.F. Skinner (1948)

• Pigeons

• Grain every 15 seconds (FT-15sec)

• Development of behaviours

• Accidental strengthening

Timing?

• Staddon & Simmelhag (1971)

• Interim and terminal behaviours

• Time-based food related behaviour

Humans

• Bruner & Revusky (1961)– Teenagers and 4 buttons; only button 3 gave

reinforcement on FI schedule

• Wagner & Morris (1987)– Children and clown doll giving marbles

• Ono (1987)– University students and levers; told to gain as

many points as possible, but points just given periodically

Social Context

• Behaviour performed for first time

• If social validation occurs, more likely to happen again

• Superstitions starting as children

• Observational learning

Delusions and Hallucinations

Attention Seeking

• Not always a biological root

• Patients

• Delusions provide attention from staff

• Social reinforcement

• “Weird” behaviours might be shaped

• Stop reinforcement to reduce behaviour

Self-Injurious Behaviour

Self-Injuries

• Punishment often effective for suppression

• Lovaas & Simmons (1969)– Boy making 30 hits per minute– Four behaviour-contingent electric shocks to leg– Self-injurious behaviour stopped

Wolf (1967)

• Injurious behaviour increased when teacher asked boy questions

• Injurious behaviour dropped when teacher stopped asking questions

• Escape: negative reinforcement– Taking away teacher causes behaviour to

increase

• Use of DRI and DRA to reduce SI behaviour