editor terry long, cpdt-ka â€œd human information processing

18 w The APDT Chronicle of the Dog w November/December 2009 www.APDT.com

Editor Terry Long, CPDT-KA

“DBOOn Behavior

• An older client is struggling to housetrain his 10-week-old Yorkie.

Many times unfavorable outcomes from situations such as those listed above are the result of the people in situations: (1) responding too slowly, and/or (2) paying attentiontothewrongcuesintheenvironment.

It turns out that there is a significant amount ofresearch from the sport and human performance sciences that focuses on individuals’ abilities to quickly recognize and respond to relevant cues in a rapidly changing environment. The purpose of this article is to discuss how dog training professionals can apply what we know about human informationprocessing to bemaximally effectivein our direct work with dogs and when working with petdog clients and theirdogs. I give significant, butnotexclusive,attentiontodiscussinghowtheseprinciplescanbe specifically applied toworkingwith reactive dogs. Inkeeping with evidence that dogs’ behavior may alternate between “aggression,” “fear,” or “ambivalence” (Horvath, Igyarto et al. 2007), I will use the umbrella term “reactive” to refer to dogs who show heightened emotional responses to stimuli regardless of the form it takes. I focus primarily on applying the relevant principles to working with reactivedogsbecauseofthesignificantamountofphysicaland psychological damage that can be caused by a reactive dog in a short period of time. However, these information processing principles can be applied to a variety of situations relevant for dog training professionals.

Key Terms and Concepts

An important concept in understanding information processing in humans is reaction time (RT). RT is the interval between the presentation of an unanticipated >

“Did you see that?’ He was getting ready

to bite!” my brother, Zach, exclaimed. It was the Thanksgiving holiday and my large, extended family had been visiting for the last several days. Several young nieces and nephews had been playing in the living room while my brother and I supervised. My brother’s urgent question had me immediately questioning whether I had missed something seriously wrong with one of my own dogs. I quickly scanned the room to recheck the location of our dogs. Meanwhile, Zach had quickly crossed the living room to scoop up his 18- month-old son. With his son now in his arms, Zach turned to point at his child indicating it was his son, not a dog thathadbeengettingreadytobite. It turnedoutthatmynephew, much to his parents’ distress, was going through a stage when frustrated with playmates resulted in biting them.1

Fortunately, the above situation did not result in a child sustaining a bite. If a bite had occurred, however, I can imagine being asked, “Didn’t you see it coming? What were you thinking?” And, to be honest, the only thing I could have said was, “I don’t know what happened; he (my nephew) just bit her (my niece) out of the blue.” And perhaps, later that day, I would have found my houseguests, who are also parents, huddled in a corner discussing how “clueless” I was not to recognize the obvious bite incident unfolding in front of me. How is it that I could be so lacking in my obser-vational skills to not recognize that a child might be on the verge of biting someone and yet be reasonably competent in being able to discern that a dog’s growing discomfort level suggested a strong possibility of an ensuing dog bite? As-suming that I am not intentionally ignoring information, at a very general level the answer must be: the way I process informationrelatedtothesesituationsmustdifferent.Let’slook at some other examples that dog training professionals and their clients might encounter:

• A pet dog owner takes her two dogs on a walk in the neighborhood and an off-leash dog runs up behindthem and starts barking;

• Two dogs with a history of squabbling over toys escalate their aggression when a third dog enters their yard, and;

What Was I Thinking? Understanding Human Information Processing

Eileen Udry, PhD, CPDT-KA

Reprinted with permission of the author and The Association of Pet Dog Trainers, www.apdt.com, 1-800-PET-DOGS, Copyright 2009.

November/December 2009 w The APDT Chronicle of the Dog w 19 www.APDT.com

On Behavior

that allow them to predict and prevent biting in children as compared to adults with no children and/or adults who did not routinely work with young children. In other words, expertise in rapid information processing tends to bedomainspecific.

How do experts obtain their superior visual search strategies? Experience alone is often the critical factor i.e., these strategies are often learned without the person’s being consciously aware that this learning is taking place. Many self-taught dog training professionals have likely learned how to “read dogs” on their own and, as a result, have a difficult time understanding why many pet dog clientsare seemingly unable to do this. What is really exciting, however, is that it is possible to facilitate the learning of effective visual search strategies so that novice trainers(e.g.,petdogclientsornew trainers) canmoreefficientlyacquire the search strategies used by experts (e.g., seasoned dog training professionals). But, this accelerated learning process typically only occurs when certain conditions are met.Morespecifically,learningvisualsearchstrategiescanmosteffectivelybefacilitatedwhennovicelearners:

1. Gettrainingspecifictotheactivity. If novice learners are trying to improve their reaction time with respect to working with dogs, it is most advantageous for them to receivetrainingthatisspecifictothisactivity.Asobviousasthis sounds, there are a number of “general vision training” programs currently being promoted by “vision experts” and widely available on the Internet, targeting individuals who require fast reactions (e.g., athletes, dog trainers). The research does not support this type of generalized vision trainingastherelevantpatternstosearchforvarybytheactivity and tend not to “pop out” to people when the activity changes.

2. Getspecificinstructiononwhattolookfor: Related to theabove,novicelearnersbenefitfrombeinggivenspecificinstruction regarding what to look for in various scenarios. In one study comparing “expert” versus “novice” soccer players, researchers found that novice players tended to visuallyfixateforlongerperiodsoftimeonthe“obvious”aspects of an oncoming opponent (i.e., the feet) regardless of the situational circumstances. The expert players tended to shift their focus more frequently between the hips and the lower leg of the opponent, and this shift was related to changes in the context (i.e., how far apart the players were from each other or how close they were to the goal) (cited in Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2004).

I am not aware of any studies that have specificallyexamined visual search strategies of expert versus novice dog trainers. Anecdotally, however, pet dog clients often seem to almost exclusively focus on whether the tail of a dog is wagging to determine whether the dog is “aggressive” or “friendly.” Thus, the recommendation would be that the novice learner should be encouraged to scan several information-rich parts of a dog (e.g., muzzle, weight over feet, forward, backward or balanced) to assess the dog’s emotional state rather than simply focusing on the tail.

Once people have been cued on [continued on next page]

stimulus (e.g., pet dog client hears his dog growl at theapproach of a child) and the beginning of a response (e.g., pet dog client begins moving away from the child).2 This interval reflects information processing delays, i.e., anindividual has to make a decision about what to do and the decision has to be relayed within the body’s neuromus-cular system (Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2004). Reaction time is distinct from movement time, which is the length of time it takes to initiate a movement until its completion (Coker, 2004).

In many sports, as well as dog-related situations, being able to shorten one’s reaction time (i.e., respond more quickly) is advantageous. For instance, when a baseball pitchisthrownat90mph,abatterhaslessthan.35secondsafter that ball leaves the pitcher’s hand to decide whether to swing at it or not (Magill, 2004). Similarly, for a pet dog client with a reactive dog, being able to respond quickly to an early warning signal of a dogs’ discomfort, may mean the difference between whether a dog bite is averted ornot.

Researchhasshownthatnumerousindividual and envi-ronmental variables influence our information processingspeed and efficiency (see Table 1 for a summary). I willdiscuss variables that my observations and experience suggest are most relevant for dog training professionals. It is important to note that the research on information pro-cessing is based on averages; thus, the principles discussed here may not apply to every individual you encounter as a dog training professional.

Individual Variables Influencing Information Processing

Experience: Oneofthemostsignificantvariablesinfluencingreaction time is experience. People with a significantamount of experience doing an activity (i.e., “experts”) are typically able to visually search their environment and locate themost relevant informationmoreefficientlyandeffectivelythanindividualswith lessexperience(i.e.,“novices”) (Magill, 2004). Thus, it would be predicted that dog training professionals, and especially those who specializeinworkingwithreactivedogs,wouldbebetterat anticipating and responding to an impending dog bite as compared to most pet dog clients. Similarly, parents of young children or people who regularly work with young childrenwouldtendtohavebettervisualsearchstrategies

Individual Variables Environmental VariablesExperience Movement complexityPractice Stimulus-response compat-

ibilityWell being Distraction levelAgeSensory system

Table 1. Selected list of variables influencing information processing in humans



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vior what to look for they often report that the cues begin to

“popout”atthem.This“popout”effectcanhappeninbothnovices and experts. Noted canine expert Sue Sternberg describes how she scrutinizes videotapes of dogs looking forpatternsinbehavioralsequences(e.g.,anustouch,leashbop) in the shelter dogs she works with:

“…the more videotape, the more I review the footage, the more I see. I discover new observations and behaviors all the time, even though with some familiar clips it feels like it’s not possible to see anything more. Once I observe something new, I can then easily identify it everywhere, and then I wonder how I could possibly have ever missed it!” (Sternberg 2008)

3.Get enough practice time: Obviously, for people to improveatdomain-specific search strategies, theyhave to be given adequate time to practice. One of the challenges of working with reactive dogs, however, is that you obviously want to avoid having reactive dogs rehearsing “growl, bark, lunge” sequences simply so learners can learn to identify the most relevant cues in their dogs. Video-based simulations can be effective in this realm and provide theadditional advantage of allowing the learning to be self-paced. Patricia McConnell’s (McConnell, 2004) DVD set on canine communication, Reading Between the Lines, is an example of applying this principle very effectively. McConnell’s tapes are especiallyuseful because the visual information that she uses typically progress from still photos to more realistic videos clips where reactive dogs and people are moving under increasingly “real-world” conditions.

Practice: Our ability to respond quickly to a signal is faster if we have been allowed to “warm up” or “prime thepump”withoneorseveralpracticeattempts.Insprintraces, sprinters have been known to intentionally false start thefirsttimetheyhearthegungooffwiththeexpectationthat their second time out of the starting block will be slightly faster. A variation of this principle is sometimes used in clicker training whereby novice trainers work on their timing using a bouncing tennis ball before they begin working with dogs. This allows learners to coordinate the movement associated with using the clicker and may sharpen their visual focus. This, in turn, may help learners have fewer late “clicks” when they actually begin working with dogs (i.e., when teaching “sit” people are clicking for the dog’s rear end touching the ground rather than the dog gettingupfromsitting).

Age: If will probably not be a surprise to you to read that the ability to respond quickly to stimuli generally deteriorates with age (Christina and Corcos, 1987). Specifically, our decision-making speed is considered tobe at its peak in our 20s and gradually deteriorates over time. This may be why some older adults may experience more trouble than their younger counterparts when housetraining a puppy. Puppies may move so quickly thatitbecomesdifficultforanolderadulttoprocessthatahousetraining accident is about to happen.

Sensory system: Just as dogs have sensory systems that vary in their sensitivity, so do humans. Below is a simpli-fiedsummaryofhowhumansensorysystemsvarywithrespect to processing incoming information (Christina and Corcos, 1987):

Fastest Sensory System

Kinesthetic

Auditory

Tactile

Visual (Focal)

Slowest

Thus, even though people have a preference to take in information through vision, it is typically not the system that is the most responsive in terms of processing speed. As a practical application of this principle for a client with reactive dog, there may be circumstances when you have them focus on listening for changes in the dog respiration rate instead of looking for visual cues that the dog is becoming stressed.

Low Well-Being: A variety of factors I have categorized as “low well being” are known to create delays in information processing. Three of the more relevant include:

1. Anxiety/stress: Numerous studies have demonstrated that stress and anxiety impair our ability to respond efficiently and as effectively as we might otherwise beable to do (Weinberg and Gould 2007). One consequence of operating under high-stress conditions (e.g., a client’s on-leash dog begins to bark loudly at a neighbor wearing sunglasses) is the tendency for people to have an extreme narrowing of their peripheral vision, creating “tunnel vision.”

In my experience, once clients reach the point of having tunnel vision, they often need a prompt of some sort (e.g., a verbal prompt, physically touching them on the shoulder) to pull out of it. Naturally, preventing yourself and your pet dog clients from reaching high levels of anxiety/stress is advised. As dog training professionals it is important to remember that clients with reactive dogs often come into training sessions carrying residual anxiety and/or embarrassment about their dog’s behavior and/or their inability to have solved the behavior on their own. I have found taking a moment to help clients and their dogs relax before and at various times during training sessions to be helpful in terms of optimizing clients’ ability to focus and respond. Someone who is experiencing tunnel vision is likely not able to scan the environment for important information (i.e., how far away am I from other people and dogs?) and may be a hazard to themselves and others.

2. Fatigue: Research has shown that when people are moderately sleep deprived, their cognitive and motor abilities become impaired such that their ability to perform is equivalent to that of a legally drunk driver (Williams and Feyer, 2000). Fromapracticalperspective, if yourwork >

Fastest Sensory System

Kinesthetic

Auditory

Tactile

Visual (Focal)

Slowest

Thus, even though people have a preference to take in information through vision,

it is typically not the system that is the most responsive in terms of processing speed. As

a practical application of this principle for a client with reactive dog, there may be

circumstances when you have them focus on listening for changes in the dog respiration

rate instead of looking for visual cues that the dog is becoming stressed.

Low Well -Being: A variety of factors that I have categorized as “low well being” are

known to create delays in information processing. Three of the more relevant include:

1. Anxiety/stress: Numerous studies have demonstrated that stress and anxiety impair

our ability to respond efficiently and as effectively as we might otherwise be able to do

(Weinberg and Gould 2007). One consequence of operating under high-stress conditions (e.g., a

client’s on-leash dog begins to bark loudly at a neighbor wearing sunglasses) is the tendency for

people to have an extreme narrowing of their peripheral vision, creating “tunnel vision.”


November/December 2009 w The APDT Chronicle of the Dog w 21 www.APDT.com

On Behavior

[continued on next page]

have relevance for understanding what sometimes seems to happen when introducing classical counterconditioning tosomepetdogclientsandtheirreactivedogs.Specifically,it seems that some pet dog clients believe that if they pair “goodstuff”(e.g.,food)toadogwhenitisreactivetosomestimuli (e.g., cowering when a stranger approaches), they will be rewarding the very behavior they are trying to get rid of. As a result, when pet dog clients are implementing classical conditioning, it may be that there is a longer delay as compared to professional trainers between the appearance of the “scary thing” and the presentation of food because clients have to override their original intuitive response. This information processing delay may be something that deserves consideration when dog-training professionals are deciding whether to implement classical conditioning with pet dog clients.

Distraction Level: Dog trainers often mention training at a distraction level that is appropriate for a dog’s level of training (i.e., lower the level of distraction during the early stage of learning and gradually increase it). Similarly, humans have limited attentional capacity and when thedistraction level becomes too great, there is degradation in ourabilitytoprocessinformationquicklyandeffectively.

Conclusions

I have presented some of the individual and environmental variables known to impact human information processing. On the surface, it may seem as if these variables occur in isolation from one another. However, we know that in the “real world” these factors are likely to interact and converge with one another. When a pet dog’s client environmental level of distraction level is high (e.g., television is on during a training session) and learners are dealing with one or more individual variables that cause information processing delays (e.g., anxiety, aging), the productivity level of a training session can be seriously compromisedandmodifications in the trainingenvironment may be warranted. Such is the messy but exciting world of dog training professionals!

Ifwearetobeeffectiveasdogtrainingprofessionalswemust not only understand all we can about the “canine end of the leash” (i.e., cognition, , emotions, development, etc.), we must also have a solid understanding of these areas with regard to the “human end of the leash.”

References

Christina, R.W. and Corsos, D.M. (1987). Coaches guide to teaching sport skills. Champaign-Urbana: Human Kinetics.

Coker, C. A. (2004). Motor learning and control for practitioners. New York: Mc-Graw-Hill.

Grandin, T. and Johnson, C. (2009). Animals make us human. Boston:HoughtonMifflinHarcourt.

Horvath, Z., Igyarto, B. Z. et al. (2007). Three differentcoping styles in police dogs exposed to a short-term chal-

on a given day brings you in direct contact with reactive dogs, andyouhavenothadadequaterest,thismaybegooda day to make other arrangements (i.e., shift appointments, work or trade with a colleague, etc.)

3.Fitness:Individualswhoaregenerallymorefithavethe ability to respond more quickly to sudden changes in environmental stimuli (Weinberg and Gould, 2007). The advantagethatfitnessplaysintermsofallowingpeopletorespond more quickly to changing environmental stimuli is not simply a function of being able move more quickly (i.e., turning into a dog and moving in the opposite direction away from an approaching dog) but to process information more efficiently and effectively. Based on these findings,dog-training professionals who want to perform optimally should make time for both regular exercise and restorative rest.

Environmental Variables Influencing Information Processing

Complexity of Movement: Movement complexity refers to the number of parts to a movement (Magill, 2004). In general, as we increase the complexity of a movement, the longer it will take the brain to organize and plan the movement. Some dog training facilities have wall-mounted clips that allow people to tether their dogs during group classes. Based on the principle of movement complexity, this tethering arrangement should allow people to respond moreefficientlytotheirdogbecausetheirhandmovementsdo not have to accommodate using a leash. Additionally, some dog trainers encourage their students to use a verbal marker (“yes!”) rather than a clicker because they believe that having students manage a clicker becomes too complicated (i.e., movement complexity it too high). Although it has been reported that animals are able to more quickly process the sound of a clicker as compared to a verbal marker (Pryor, 2009), it seems that the choice of training tool should also be informed by how well any tool can be managed by the end user. Further study and experimentation in this area may shed light on the interface of the dog and people as learners in this context.

Stimulus-Response Compatibility: An important, positive effectoninformationprocessingspeedisthe“naturalness”of the connection between the stimulus and the response (Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2004). If you show people the word “BLACK” but the word is printed in red (e.g., BLACK), it will take longer for them to process this as compared to if the word BLACK was printed in black ink (thisphenomenon is referred toas theStroopEffect) (Schmidtand Wrisberg, 2004). Another example of low stimulus-response compatibility is if you have gone into a skid with your car. For most people, the natural response is to turn the wheel in the opposite direction of the skid; however, in most cars, the correct response is to turn into the skid (Coker, 2004). When there is low compatibility between the stimulus and response, it will take people longer to prepare their response because they have to override what they intuitively felt was the correct response.

This stimulus-response compatibility concept may



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vior lenge. Horm Behav52(5):621-30.

Magill, R. A. (2004). Motor learning and control: Concepts and applications. New York: McGraw Hill

McConnell, P. (2004). Reading between the lines: Part One. Meridian: ID, Tawzer Dog Videos.

Pryor, K. (2009). Reaching the animal mind. New York”Scribner.

Schmidt, R. A. and Wrisberg, C. A. (2004). Motor learning and performance: A problem-based approach. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

Sternberg, S. (2008). An ethogram of the shelter dog. The APDT Chronicle of the Dog. Greenville, SC: Association of Pet DogTrainers.November/December:42-46.

Weinberg, R. S. and Gould, D. (2007). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

Williams, AM. and Feyer, A.M. (2000). Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occupational and Environmental Medicine 57:649-655.

Endnotes

1. My brother and his wife insisted that I inform you that their son only learned to bite once he started going to day-care .

2. In the literature on (non-human) animals, the term “ori-enting stage” is used to refer to what animals do when they hear or see something new and make a split-second deci-sionabouthow to respond (e.g.,fightorflight). (Grandinand Johnson, 2009).

This concept appears to be conceptually similar to the term “reaction time.”

Eileen Udry, PhD, CPDT-KA, is the Director of the non-profit Working Like Dogs (www.workinglikedogs.org; [email protected]). Eileen’s academic training is in Motor Learning and Sport Psychology and she focuses her work on the intersection of dog training and human learning/performance. Eileen inte-grates her academic background into her teaching of pet dog classes, training service dogs, working with shelter dogs, and writing. Eileen lives in rural Ohio with her husband and several fast dogs.

“On Behavior” editor Terry Long, CPDT-KA, is a professional writer, dog trainer, and behavior counselor in Long Beach, CA. She provides private and group classes for pet manners, agility, and behavior modification, specializing in clicker training and other reward-based techniques. She is the former Managing Editor of The APDT Chronicle of the Dog. In 2006 her article for the Chronicle, “Shape for Confidence” (Mar/Apr), won a coveted 1st-place Maxwell Award for Best Feature in a canine newspaper or newsletter (non-healthcare topic) from the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA.org). She also authors Dog World magazine’s “About Agility” column, nominated for Best Magazine Column of 2006 by the DWAA. She can be reached through her Web site at www.dogpact.com.


editor terry long, cpdt-ka â€œd human information processing

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