the cognitive dog class 10: emotion (fear...). agenda questions? bruce: the neural basis of fear...

The Cognitive Dog

Class 10: Emotion (fear...)

Agenda

• Questions?

• Bruce: the neural basis of fear

• Carolyn: working with a fearful dog

Emotions

How LeDoux defines emotion

• ‘Emotion defined as the process by which the brain determines or computes the value of a stimulus’

• As a consequence of this evaluation...

• Reaction: ‘Emotional reactions occur. The overt bodily responses and associated changes in internal body physiology are the advance guard of emotional responsivity.’

• Feeling: ‘Subsequently (at least in humans) a feeling emerges’

• Reponse: ‘Given that we are in an emotionally arousing situation, we often take action. That is, we do things to cope with or capitalize on the event that is causing us to be emotionally aroused.”

LeDoux, J. (2002). Synaptic Self: How our Brains Become Who We Are. New York, NY, Penguin Books.

A key point here...

• Discussion of emotion in animals tends to focus on reaction & response

• Observable behavior (freeze, threat, affiliative, ...)

• The neural processing, hormonal response, learning and memory that seems correlated with the observable behavior

• With the assumption that there is an adaptive value to these mechanisms

• Emotion is what you feel, Affect is what you show...

Categorizing emotions..

The major emotional systems in animals?

• Seeking

• Fear

• Rage

• Panic (social bonding)

• Special purpose

• Lust

• Maternal Care

• Play

Panksepp, J. (1998). The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. New York, NY, Oxford University Press.

McConnell focuses on 4 systems that she feels are most relevant to dog-human relationships

• Fear

• Anger

• Joy

• Love (affiliative)

Scott & Fuller: social attraction vs. fear...

• Indeed, the dynamics of fear and affiliation (social attraction) has been a major theme in our discussion so far...

• How this dynamic is different in dogs vs. wild canids

• Paid particular attention to the developmental aspects of this dynamic.

• An understanding of fear is essential if we are to understand much of dog behavior...

Lindsay, S. R. (2000). Applied Dog Behavior and Training. Ames, IA, Iowa State University Press.

Our plan for studying emotion

• We are going to focus on 2 emotional systems

• Fear

• Seeking

Fear: Quick but sometimes wrong is better than slow and sometimes dead...

How do we know an animal is in an emotional state we call fear?

• From Boissy:

• Observable behavior

• Freeze & tonic immobility (playing dead)

• Active Defense (threat or attack)

• Active avoidance (flight, hiding, escape)

• Other physical manifestations

• Neuroendocrine changes that seem correlated with above...

Boissy, A. (1998). Fear and Fearfulness in Determining Behavior. Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals. T. Grandin. San Diego, Academic Press: 357.

Why the animal might respond to a given stimuli with behaviors we label as being associated with fear?

• From Boissy, again...

• ‘dangers the animal has learned to avoid’

• ‘stimuli that evoke an unlearned response’

• ‘novel stimuli’

• ‘physical characteristics ... [such as] fast-moving stimuli often provoke greater fear’

• ‘stimuli which arise from conspecifics, such as alarm calls’

Boissy, A. (1998). Fear and Fearfulness in Determining Behavior. Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals. T. Grandin. San Diego, Academic Press: 357.

LeDoux in two slidesQuick but sometimes wrong is better than slow and sometimes dead...

LeDoux, J. (1996). The Emotional Brain. New York, NY, Simon & Schuster.

LeDoux in two slidesThe amygdala rules: it is the ring master of emotional response


The Fear Circuit

• The amygdala gets early sensory data from the sensory thalmus & then later from sensory cortex & memory

• Amygdala relies on coarse features to identify significant sensory events and if found...

• begins to initiate response

• primes itself to respond to higher level input from SC

• may guide interpretation


Early

Middle

Late

Later inputs to the amygdala

• Sensory Cortex: more highly processed sensory input

• MTL (hippocampus): multi-modal representations of events, memories of facts and experiences.

• Prefrontal Cortex: Higher level control and interpretation

• All serve to refine the activity of the amygdala including trying to put the brakes on if necessary


Context conditioning occurs in Basal amygdala

Rhinal cortex and hippocampus provide amygdala with high level representations such as context


Snake

Snake in tank

Fear conditioning occurs in LA

(rustle in grass)

Context conditioning occurs

in LA

Ultimately the amygdala ‘mediates reactions and

actions’

Central Amygdala sets off a cascade of hormones & neurotransmitters to prepare body


Central Amygdala

Basal Amygdala

Feedback mechanisms

• Direct connections from the amygdala back to other parts of the brain.

• Initiates production of various hormones that affect the state of the body and the brain

• The body responses themselves provide feedback to the brain

• All three mechanisms may in turn help inform the cognitive machinery that the body is having an emotional experience


Stress pathways...

• One consequence of amygdala activity is the release of cortisol and other hormones (norepinephrine, ...) that have wide-ranging effects on the body and brain.

• The Hippocampus responds to the higher level by inhibiting the production of more

• At moderate levels, cortisol has the effect of strenthening connections & memory in the amygdala and hippocampus


Stress pathways...

• At prolonged high levels of stress, the level of cortisol rises to the point where it actually interferes with the functioning of the hippocampus.

• Ability to form explicit memories (i.e., memories about context) is weakened

• Even more insidious, high levels of generalized stress may strengthen ‘weakly conditioned fear responses’ that have nothing to do with the stress


Stress is a big deal...

• You may think it is over, but it may take minutes/hours for your dog’s brain/body to think it is over.

• The elevated levels of glucocortoids resulting from stress may be a contributing factor to depression, & contribute to resistance to medication, and issues with immune system.

• Stress may lessen dog’s ability to use contextual cues to distinguish between real threats and non-threats.

Some great books...

• Scholz, M. and C. v. Reinhardt (2007). Stress in Dogs. Wenatchee, WA, Dogwise Publishing.

• Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why Zebra Don't Get Ulcers. New York, NY, Owl Books, Henry Holt and Co.

Conditioned responses, i.e., memories in the amygdala, are difficult or impossible to extinguish

• Experiments have shown that fear conditioning becomes resistant to extinction when the prefrontal cortex is damaged...

• The implication is that extinguishing fear conditioning is more about the cognitive machinery learning that “its ok”, as opposed to the amygdala forgetting

• Maybe why a single bad incident can seemingly undo months of careful counter-conditioning and desensitization.

• Think about “flooding” in light of this finding and the previous ones about the implications of high levels of stress on memory formation.

The amygdala and action...

• One consequence of the amygdala being activated is that dopamine cells in the VTA are activated. Some of these cells release dopamine into a part of the brain known as the Nucleus Accumbens.

• The has the effect of amplifying signals coming from the Amygdala and this in turn allows the Amygdala to strongly activate and direct motor activity, e.g., flee or attack


The big take home point: you want a dog with a good amygdala

• The dog’s amygdala by virtue of its quick and dirty sensory evaluation may be off and running before the dog’s cognitive machinery can catch up to put the brakes on.

• Its all about reacting, not thinking. And it is all about reacting on the basis of less rather than more information. And all about quick & often permanent learning

• It is very easy for the emotional processing mechanism centered around the amygdala to highjack the rest of the dog’s brain & body: terrier-terror land

• For you, its all about having a dog whose fear circuit isn’t poised to take-off for the races at a moment’s notice, that is less likely to highjack the dog when it does, and whose cognitive machinery is, with your help, able to put on the brakes when needed. It should also be abundantly clear that aversive techniques are fraught with peril.

The Great Dane in the room...

• So do you think dogs have feelings, i.e. are conscious of their emotional states?

• I don’t know, but my personal opinion is that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck give it the benefit of the doubt that it is a duck. I would much rather bear the consequences of being wrong in this regard.

• Similar brain chemistry

• Similar organization, many similar mechanisms and/or mechanisms that vary by degree

• That said, the differences in degree and kind of mechanism, e.g., language, perceptual capabilities, etc. do suggest we need to be very cautious about making any conclusions with respect to the exact nature of a given animal’s conscious experience.

Cognitive Dog

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR

Class 9

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Possible Contributing Factors

Genetics vs. Environment

Meet the parents and other relatives in varied situations

"Kennel dog syndrome" under-socialized puppy not obvious in familiar territory


Critical periods of Development

Fear stages to be aware of:

8 to 11 weeks

5 or 6 months to maturity

Avoid situations

Be prepared to handle positively


Critical periods of Development

Steiff’s Puppy Aptitude TestSpeaking of the chicken or

the egg….Which came first his fear of people with events or the

test…

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Recognizing fear

Body Posture: Subtle to blatant

Dog walk example: from speeding across

to refusing to do

Fear of people: belly up to biting


Body Signs to look for

Ears back, lips drawn back, lip licking,panting, eyes dilated, eyes large and

showing whites, tail down, tense body, shaking, avoidance

Defensive aggression

Barking, lunging, growling, snapping

biting


Body Signs to look for


Fear and Aggression:

Aggression can be self-rewarding

1 rep of someone backing away = relief which can create learned aggression

Dogs perception - passersby

the aggressing is working

Relief is Self rewarding for the dog

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Recognizing fear exists

Displacement behaviors:

Stress or fear

Yawning, sniffing,

scratching, zoomies,

appearing distracted

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Environmental Situations:

Dogs attach fears to things/people/situationsScary event + sight of person in hat =

person in hat now scary (not the event)

Steiff generally attaches his fear of dogs making a high pitched noise to people nearby the event

1st episode was when he was 16 months

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Preventing fear from building:

Take it SLOW when training something potentially scary

SHAPE don't LURE

See Saw example

Easier to take your time in the beginning than fix later

Always work within the dog's comfort zone

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Decreasing the Fear

Always handle the emotional reactions of dogs in a positive manner

Never force into a situation that can be avoided

Less potential for fallout

Flooding and Punishment have potential for suppression and fallout


A safe approach to change emotionsClassical conditioning to reduce the emotional response

Then work towards teaching an alternative behavior using operant conditioning

Through Positive Reinforcement

and Shaping ideally with a clicker

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR What is Classical Conditioning?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian conditioning, respondent conditioning or alpha-conditioning) is a type of associative learning. Ivan Pavlov described the learning of conditioned behavior as being formed by pairing two stimuli to condition an animal into giving a certain response. The simplest form of classical conditioning is reminiscent of what Aristotle would have called the law of contiguity, which states that: "When two things commonly occur together, the appearance of one will bring the other to mind."


Classical works on the emotions

Reflexive – not learned

Associates one event with another

Changes emotions and behavior based on the emotions

fear (emotion) =

fight or flight (behavior)

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Decreasing the FearClassical works for us and against us

Against = Loud noise happens as a dog sees a person and then associates the noise with that person

For = Counter conditioning, use of a strong positive (food) in association with the person the dog is now afraid of to reduce fear

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Decreasing the Fear - CC Guidelines

Situate the dog for minimal reaction to the trigger stimulus

This may require distance

barriers

lower level of sound

There IS a below threshold

If a quarter mile – start there!


Manage the dog for safety of all…

Collars that cannot slip off

martingale

harness

head collar

double leashes

classes – tie outs


The dog needs to perceive the stimulus or trigger first

THEN follow with really good food (it just appears)

Drop on the ground if not taking from your hand – (appetitive behavior and is self rewarding)

Increase distance from the triggerif not eating at all


Dog begins to focus on you - add an alternative behavior

You are now moving from classical conditioning to operant conditioning

First alternative behavior often needs to be simply to focus on the handler


Operant conditioning teaches behaviors – replace the old fear reaction with a new behavior once the emotional response is reduced

Positive reinforcement only

Luring - avoid with fear issues

Shape behaviors you want

Shaping engages the brain


Use already known & fun (to the dog) behaviors after getting attention first

Go back to CC anytime the reactivity increases

Take note - Poisoned Cues

Some verbal cues can be poisoned due to bad experiences, retrain the behavior with no cue then change it – names are an example for some rescue dogs


Slowly decrease the distance OR

increase the stimulus

Set up and manage the environment

carefully for best results

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR The repair review:

Be patient – small steps

Work for short periods of time

In class – have dogs go out for a break

Continually observe your dog’s posture to know how he is doing


Classical first (counter-condition)

Use high value rewards

Work at a distance the dog can handle


Move from classical to operantWhen the fear is reduced

Reactions are lessDog can focus on you

Back to classical if dog reacts


The move from classical to operant

Experience has shown me that the both are critically important

classical – reduces the fear and the emotional reaction

operant – appears to allow the dog to become more acclimated to

the fear producing stimulus and further reduces the fear


ALWAYS create an escape

Let the dog take more distance if needed

Obstacles – allow to get off

Ask to get off before they need to get off

NEVER force a fearful dog


Class or set up situations

Tie outs

Big Space and or Barriers

Some dog’s appear to enjoy reacting

Use of Negative Punishment

Dog tied – dog reacts – handler leaves – dog stops reacting – handler returns


Will it go away completely - probably notMaintenance ManagementImprovement

Possible reoccurrenceSteiff is an example of reoccurrence I cannot completely manage the environment I put him in – lots of

dogs and different situations

the cognitive dog class 10: emotion (fear...). agenda questions? bruce: the neural basis of fear...

Documents

emotion fear

dynamics of fear

understanding of fear

emotional systems fear

greater fear stimuli

fearful dog slide

emotion emotion

applied dog behavior