The efficacy of a secondary reinforcer (clicker) during acquisition and extinction of an operant task in horses

Williams, J. L.; Friend, T.H.; Nevill, Christian H.; Archer, Gregory S.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2004.03.008

Cited by 47 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…However, the learned behavior was extinguished quickly in the absence of the primary reinforcer. Conversely, Williams et al, (2004) did not find an effect of secondary reinforcement. Dwarf goats trained with a secondary reinforcer (sound) presented together with the primary one (water) proved to remember and learn more quickly and efficiently than goats without the secondary reinforcement (Langbein et al, 2007b).…”

Section: Operant Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 58%

Precision livestock production: tools and concepts

Laca

2009

R. Bras. Zootec.

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-Precision livestock production (PLP) is the augmentation of precision agriculture (PA) concepts to include all components of agroecosystems, particularly animals and plant-animal interactions. Soil, plants and soil-plant interactions are the subjects of PA or site-specific farming, where the main principle is to exploit natural spatial heterogeneity to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. For the most part, PA has been studied and developed for intensive cropping systems with little attention devoted to pastoral and agropastoral systems. PLP focuses on the animal component and exploits heterogeneity in space and among individual animals towards more efficient and environmentally friendly production. Within PLP, precision grazing consists of the integration of information and communication technologies with knowledge about animal behavior and physiology to improve production of meat, milk and wool in grazing conditions. Two main goals are to minimize overgrazing of sensitive areas and to maximize the quality of the product through enhanced traceability. An integrated precision grazing system is outlined with its components: sensors of animal position, behavior and physiological status, real-time transmission of information to a decision support system, and feed-back through a series of actuators. Control of animal movement and diets is based on knowledge about species specific responses to various stimuli within the paradigms of flavor aversions and operant conditioning. Recent advances in the technologies and instrumentation available are reviewed briefly and linked to current livestock identification systems. The precision grazing vision is presented in full and the areas that need further research and development are discussed.Key Words: animal position, animal behavior, plant-animal interaction, precision grazing Precisão de produção de gado: ferramentas e conceitosRESUMO -A precisão de produção de gado (PPG) se constitui em ampliação do conceito de agricultura de precisão (AP) e que inclui todos os componentes de ecossistemas agrícolas, especialmente as interações animais e planta-animal. O solo, plantas e as interações solo-planta são temas da AP ou de locais específicos em cada fazenda, onde o principal objetivo é explorar a natural heterogeneidade espacial para aumentar a eficiência e reduzir impactos no meio ambiente. Para a maioria das situações a AP tem sido avaliada e desenvolvida em sistemas intensivos de cultivos de grãos e pouca atenção voltada para sistemas de pastejo e sistemas de integração lavoura e pecuária. A PPG tem como foco o componente animal e explora a heterogeneidade no espaço e entre animais individuais visando sistemas de produção apropriados ambientalmente e maior eficiência. No PPG o pastejo de precisão consiste da integração de tecnologias de informação e de comunicação com conhecimentos sobre o comportamento animal e sua fisiologia e isto visa o aumento da produção de carne, da produção de leite e da produção de lã, realizada em situações de pastejo. As...

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Section: Operant Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 58%

Precision livestock production: tools and concepts

Laca

2009

R. Bras. Zootec.

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“…The task was adapted from Williams et al [24] and Whistance et al [25]. This task is considered an instrumental task because the horse had to perform an action (touching the cone) under the influence of reinforcement factors (positive reinforcement: food reward) when detecting a particular stimulus (a distal cue given by the experimenter).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Modulates Instrumental Learning Performances in Horses (Equus caballus) in Interaction with Temperament

et al. 2013

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The present study investigates how the temperament of the animal affects the influence of acute stress on the acquisition and reacquisition processes of a learning task. After temperament was assessed, horses were subjected to a stressor before or after the acquisition session of an instrumental task. Eight days later, horses were subjected to a reacquisition session without any stressor. Stress before acquisition tended to enhance the number of successes at the beginning of the acquisition session. Eight days later, during the reacquisition session, contrary to non-stressed animals, horses stressed after acquisition, and, to a lesser extent, horses stressed before acquisition, did not improve their performance between acquisition and reacquisition sessions. Temperament influenced learning performances in stressed horses only. Particularly, locomotor activity improved performances whereas fearfulness impaired them under stressful conditions. Results suggest that direct exposure to a stressor tended to increase acquisition performances, whereas a state of stress induced by the memory of a stressor, because it has been previously associated with the learning context, impaired reacquisition performances. The negative effect of a state of stress on reacquisition performances appeared to be stronger when exposure to the stressor occurred after rather than before the acquisition session. Temperament had an impact on both acquisition and reacquisition processes, but under stressful conditions only. These results suggest that stress is necessary to reveal the influence of temperament on cognitive performances.

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“…Surrounding fishes may also distract the test subjects during the conditioning. In order to compensate for such complications, we applied an acoustic secondary reinforcer and tested its potential in enhancing training efficiency (Spence, 1947;Williams et al, 2004). Positive reinforced training relies on a primary, positive reinforcer such as a food reward (Kelleher and Gollub, 1962).…”

Section: Successful Operant Conditioning Of Marine Fish In Their Natumentioning

confidence: 99%