Partial rewarding during clicker training does not improve naïve dogs’ learning speed and induces a pessimistic-like affective state
| Autor: | Roberta Vitiello, Zsófia Virányi, Julia Schoesswender, Giulia Cimarelli, Ludwig Huber |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna [Vienna]-University of Vienna [Vienna]-Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna [Vienna]-University of Vienna [Vienna], Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Physiologie de la reproduction et des comportements [Nouzilly] (PRC), Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Equitation [Saumur]-Université de Tours (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Equitation [Saumur]-Université de Tours-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
media_common.quotation_subject Emotions education Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Clicker training Pessimism Affect (psychology) 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Dogs Bias Reward Animals Learning Personality 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology Reinforcement Reactivity (psychology) Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics media_common Original Paper [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior Psychological research 05 social sciences Partial rewarding Cognitive bias Domestic dog Psychology Reinforcement Psychology Social psychology Operant conditioning |
| Zdroj: | Animal Cognition Animal Cognition, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2021, 24 (1), pp.107-119. ⟨10.1007/s10071-020-01425-9⟩ |
| ISSN: | 1435-9456 1435-9448 |
| Popis: | Clicker training is considered a welfare-friendly way of teaching novel behaviors to animals because it is mostly based on the positive reinforcement. However, trainers largely vary in their way of applying this training technique. According to the most, a reward (e.g., food) should follow every click, while others claim that dogs learn faster when the reward is sometimes omitted. One argument against the use of partial rewarding is that it induces frustration in the animal, raising concerns over its welfare consequences. Here, we investigated the effect of partial rewarding not only on training efficacy (learning speed), but also on dogs’ affective state. We clicker-trained two groups of dogs: one group received food after every click while the other group received food only 60% of the time. Considering previous evidence of the influencing role of personality on reactions to frustrated expectations, we included measurements of dogs’ emotional reactivity. We compared the number of trials needed to reach a learning criterion and their pessimistic bias in a cognitive bias test. No difference between the two groups emerged in terms of learning speed; however, dogs that were partially rewarded during clicker training showed a more pessimistic bias than dogs that were continuously rewarded. Generally, emotional reactivity was positively associated with a more pessimistic bias. Partial rewarding does not improve training efficacy, but it is associated with a negatively valenced affective state, bringing support to the hypothesis that partial rewarding might negatively affect dogs’ welfare. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10071-020-01425-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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