Psychology 101: "CLICKER" lesson

During a discussion I had yesterday- a co-worker asked me how clicker training worked. She also wanted to know if it helped to increase the amount of time it takes to trai a pup.

I decided to do a Psychology 101: "CLICKER" lesson. I even drew a picture. Be in awe of my artistic talent.

As you can see- the dog is sitting.

This is the behavior the trainer is looking for.

He sits- the trainer clicks and gives him a treat.

What is the primary and secondary reinforcer?

1- The primary reinforcer is something (in this scenerio) that a trainer gives to the dog that has some value. This could be a toy, some attention, or food. For starters most people us food as a training treat. Down the road, when the behavior is more cemented- food is weaned and attention and praise is used.

2- The secondary reinforcer is something that shows the dog that a treat is coming! If you use a cue word; such as "good!" or "yes", and follow it with a treat the dog will recognize that cue. In clicker training, the trainer uses a "click" instead of a word, but the dog recognizes that as a sign that the food is coming. This is also helpful if you have to delay the food a few seconds- but want the dog to recognize the behavior they JUST DID was the desired action. If he sits, and the owner grabs a piece of food for him a minute later- he may be pawing at his face.. or doing

another behavior. When the owner gives him his food he may think.. "Well, I sat.. but THEN I pawed at my face. She rewarded me for pawing at my face!" and will continue on with that behavior expecting a reward.

Here is the scenerio again.

Dog sits.

Trainer hits clicker.

Dog recognizes: Okay- I sat and I got a treat. She must be looking for this behavior.

Trainer gives treat.

Dog tries to sit again to receive another click and treat.

In order for the dog to recognize what the clicker MEANS.. however... the clicker needs to be "charged".

To charge the clicker, the trainer needs to repeat this procedure until the dog recognizes the connection between the primary reinforcer and the secondary.

Step 1: CLICK the clicker

Step 2: give treat to the dog

*rinse and repeat* (minus the rinse)

Eventually the dog will recognize the pattern and expect a treat for a click.

This is helpful when you want to identify a behavior. He laid down.. you click.. he gets food. The dog goes "oo! the click told me I did something right.. it must be to lay down. Let's do it again and I'll get food!"

Psychology studies- such as Pavlov dogs and the Skinner box- were really the pioneers in this thinking.

Here's the story. Pavlov had a few dogs in his lab. He noticed that when he would walk into his lab the dog would start drooling knowing it was food time! He wanted to see if he could condition a dog to drool at the sound of a bell.

Scenario goes as follows:

*Bell rings

*Food given.

It is as easy as that! The sight of the food would cause Pavlov's dog to drool. So based on what I said before....

Primary reinforcer in this scenario is... *drum roll* THE

FOOD!!

What is the secondary? The Bell!

Now, there were no behaviors that the dog needed to accomplish to get these treats. This experiment was just to see if an UCR (unconditioned response, such as salivating) could be turned into a conditioned response to the bell!

However, you could see how you could identify the primary and secondary reinforcers in this example.

See if you can make Pavlov's dog drool! Remember what I said!!!

Pavlov's dog

Now, for the Skinner box

A rat is in a box with a level and lights. The rat hits the level, food comes out. Lever = food.

Then the rat starts pressing the lever.. and NO

FOOD! WHAT? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE.

Wait.. 3 lever presses gives me food. Cool, okay now I'll press three times. *continues to press 3 times*

OH NO! IT WON'T WORK ANYMORE! Lets try some more. Okay now its 5...

You see how the behavior is shaped? The rat is expected to do more and more lever touches as the time goes on. First he needs to recognize that connection.

That is all this is- allowing the pup to recognize the connection between the click and food- then the click and behavior.

Soon trainers can put a verbal cue on the behavior, and

the dog can recognize that when the owner says "EWOK" he is meant to sit and a click, then a treat- will come.

Now... onto the other question. Does clicker training help to increase the amount of time it takes to train a dog.

According to the study by Smith and Davis (2008), it does not.

In this study 35 basenjis were taught to nose touch a cone. There was a control group that was taught without a clicker, and the study group- where a clicker was used.

Then.. they stopped rewarding the dog for the behavior.

The control and study group learned the behavior within the same amount of trials (on average). (A side note to this- the study mentions that the younger dogs learned quicker, no matter what group they are in. HOWEVER- all dogs successfully learned it.. so you CAN teach a old dog new tricks, it just may take awhile)

HOWEVER- it took LONGER for the dogs who were taught by clicker to FORGET the behavior (experience extinction) than the ones who were not.

So, it seems that although it does not increase the speed of training- it allows for the longevity of a trick/ behavior/ etc.

(citing article here:

Smith, S. M & Davis, E. (2008) Clicker increases resistance to extinction but does not

decrease training time of a simpler operant task in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Applied

Animal Behaviour Science, 100, 318-329)

TADA!!

And to end, here is a picture of Bruce sleeping on his mommy the first day we met him.