PSY 1400Final Fiesta Presentation

Megan Grace Murto

extraordinary

phenomena?

It has been reported that in the city of Kalamazoo,Michigan that a student taught her cat to sit, sit-up,and high-five using the principles of behavior...

Mulder, this is not an X-file….

Sometimes looking for extreme possibilities

makes you blind to the probable explanation right in front of you

“Yes!” Cat Treat

No “Yes!” No Cat Treat

• The pairing of the signal marker “yes!” with the presentation of the reinforcer of the cat treat

• The value-altering principle converted a neutral stimulus (“yes!”) into a learned reinforcer.

The pairing procedure: the pairing of a neutral stimulus with a

reinforcer or aversive stimulus

“Yes!” Cat Treat

No “Yes!” No Cat Treat

Skinner, I’m lost.

What is a learned reinforcer?

a learned reinforcer is a stimulus, event, or condition that is a reinforcer because it has been paired with another reinforcer.

Reinforcement Contingency

Before:

Kitty has no treat

Behavior:

Kitty

Sits

After:

Kitty has treat

the response-contingent presentation of a reinforcer resulting in an increased

frequency of that response

• Initial training began with

the use of the cat treat to

lure Kitty into the sitting

position.

• Once sitting was acquired

by guiding the response

with the treat, I would then

fade out using luring and

train the behavior by using

hand signals as the

prompt

A prompt is a supplemental

stimulus that raises the probability of a correct response

• reinforcing or punishing a response

• in the presence of one stimulus

• and extinguishing it

• or allowing it to recover

• in the presence of another stimulus.

In order to teach Kitty to discriminate between the response to sit and sit up I used a discrimination training procedure:

During the training of sitting up, I used the hand signal of an upward movement with my pointer finger as the discriminative stimulus:

• a stimulus in the presence of which

• a particular response will be reinforced or punished

SΔ

SD

Behavior:

After:

After:

Before:

discrimination training procedure

Differential-Reinforcement Procedure

reinforcing one set of responses and withholding reinforcement for another set of responses

Discrimination Training Procedure

SΔ: NO upward

movement with pointer finger

SD:upward movement with pointer finger

Behavior:

Kitty sits up

After:

No Treat

After:

Treat

Before:

No treat

Differential Reinforcement

Sit

Sit Up

Shaping with Reinforcement

the differential reinforcement of only

the behavior that more and more

closely resembles the terminal

behavior

Shaping with Reinforcement

The procedure started by reinforcing the initial behavior of Kitty sitting

› Behavior that resembles the terminal behavior along some meaningful dimension and occurs at least with a minimal frequency

the intermediate behavior of Kitty sitting up while looking up and reinforcing correct responses.

› Behavior that more closely approximates the terminal behavior

After several repetitions of this behavior I was able to begin shaping the final chain of Kitty fully sitting up on her back legs, the terminal behavior:

› behavior not in the repertoire or not occurring at the desired frequency; the goal of the intervention.

Shaping with Reinforcement

Reinforcement

Extinction

The next behavior I began training was teaching Kitty how to give a “High-Five”

◦ I started out by using the physical prompt (the trainer physically moves the trainee’s body in approximation of the desired response) by moving her paw in approximation towards my hand.

[Video]

Before:

Kitty has no treat

Behavior:

Kitty High-Five’s

After:

Kitty has treat

SΔ:

“Left”

SD:

“Right”

Behavior:

Kitty High –Five’s

After:

No Treat+

No “YES!”

After:

Treat+

“YES!”Before:

NoTreat

Before:

No Treat

Behavior:Kitty High Five’s with Right Paw

Behavior:Kitty High

Five’s with Left Paw

After:

Treat

After:

No Treat

The End!