the learned dog class 15: observational learning and a parting word

The Learned Dog

Class 15: Observational Learning and a parting word

Stuff

• John Linehan from Zoo New England will be our guest lecturer next week!!!

• Papers

• Assignment 1 comments

• Assignment 2 papers due next week.

• If you want an extension to May 7th, you must request an extension on or before 4/30/07.

• Final paper due May 21st.

Final Paper...

• 8-10 page paper on topic of your choice...

• Extension policy

• If you need an extension, you must submit a form to the academic office on or by May 15th. Forms available from: • http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2006-07/forms/

• Please note, I can not give a passing grade without receiving a final paper from you, and I can not grant an extension without you having submitted a formal request to the academic office.

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2006-07/forms/

Observational Learning

The big ideas...

• ‘One animal simply creates conditions under which others learn for themselves’ - shettleworth

• ‘Social learning about positive stimuli need only have a small effect to have important consequences because once the animal makes the socially induced choice, positive reinforcement can perpetuate the behavior.’ - shettleworth

• An example of the power of scaffolding...

• Something about the presence, location and/or actions of one animal helps bias the attention & behavioral choice of another animal in response to biologically significant stimuli (the hard part)

• Classical & Operant Conditioning take over (the easy part)

Shettleworth, S. J. (1998). Cognition, Evolution and Behavior. New York, NY, Oxford University Press

Observational learning makes sense...

• Emotional response of conspecifics helps identify a predator/dangerous situation...

• In niches in which ‘scramble competition’ is prevalent...

• Many individuals feed at once on limited food sources

• To the extent that success is correlated with speed, it pays to learn

• Does feeding at a caribou count as scramble competition?

When will you see observational

learning?

There needs to be value to learning


Why learn when you can scrounge?

Types of observational learning...

Local Enhancement

Emery, N. and N. Clayton (2005). Animal Cognition. The Behavior of Animals: mechanisms, function and evolution. J. Bolhuis and L. Giraldeau. London, Blackwell Publishing.

Attraction to others indirectly leads to learning about presence of an object

“Just chillin...”

“I wonder what Fred is up to... Hmm...

not much...Whoa, look at that

cookie jar”Dem. Obs.

Stimulus Enhancement


Learns about presence of object by observing the interaction of another

animal with the object

“Hmmm, what is he playing with..”

“Bug off, this is mine...” Dem. Obs.

Observational Conditioning


Emotional response to an object based on observing another animal’s response

“Hmmm, snakes must be bad...

Eeek...”

“Eeek, a snake...”Dem. Obs.

Things to note...

• The other animal is just doing their thing, their role as “demonstrator/teacher” is purely a side-effect.

• Think of wolf pups following mom & dad

• Their presence/interaction/response provides, in effect, a focus of attention that simplifies the learning problem for the observer.

• Associative learning is probably sufficient given this scaffolding

Goal Emulation...


a) Observe another animal achieve a goal by performing a specific action

b) Achieve same goal but use a different action

The difference in this case is that the person and the monkey orient the rake differently

Imitation...


a) Observe another animal achieve a goal by performing a specific & novel sequence of actions

This type of observational learning seems to occur rarely in other species than humans

b) Achieve same goal by performing the same specific & novel sequence of actions

But there are some possible examples of imitation


More possible examples...


• Neurons that are active not only when...

• animal is performing a given motion

• but also when an animal perceives another animal performing the same motion!

• They have been found in humans, macaques...

• Are they part of the machinery that underly sophisticated imitation?

A brief aside on mirror neurons...

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neurons

Common forms of observational learning

Local Enhancement

Stimulus Enhancement

Observational Conditioning


Uncommon forms of observational learning

Goal Emulation

Imitation


Why?

• Why are goal emulation and imitation apparently so rare in species other than humans and maybe other apes...

• May require a type of cognitive machinery (little or big) not found in other species...

• The cost/benefit may low (i.e., the common forms work well enough given built-in behavioral structure & context)

• Just haven’t looked hard enough...

What do our slacker friends do?

• Common forms of observational learning...

• Local enhancement

• Stimulus enhancement

• Observational conditioning

• Less common forms

• Goal emulation (???)

But what do dogs do?

Adler & Adler

Big idea...

• Test for evidence of observational learning in Miniature Dachshund pups of varying ages...

• Had some pups watch another pup retrieve ‘inaccessible’ food by pulling on a string that was attached to the food

• Compared time it took naive pups to retrieve food by pulling on string with the time it took pups who had experience watching other pups do it.

More details...

• 4 litters of doxie pups, 1 from each litter chosen as demonstrator for rest of littermates

• 3 days of acclimatization (???)

• 5 trials per day in which demonstrator learned how to retrieve food, and observers watched

• After 15 trials, observers were given chance to perform task

• The observers generally retrieved the food substantially faster on the first three trials than their demonstrator. Especially strong effect with older pups (38 & 60 day old pups vs. 28 day old pups)

Stimulus enhancement?

• “In some cases the observer ran to pull the ribbon as soon as it was made available, with frantic activity continuing although the food was already within reach. Persistence in working and skill in manipulating the ribbon had to be learned by practice.”

• Classic example of stimulus enhancement...

• Demonstrator’s actions had the effect of biasing the observer’s attention to the ribbon.

• Action performed on the ribbon was common appetitive behavior

Slabbert & Rasa

The big idea...

• “Pups with extended maternal care which were allowed to observe their trained mothers locating and retrieving a sachet of narcotics between the ages of 6 and 12 weeks performed the same task significantly better than non-exposed pups when tested at the age of 6 months, without further reinforcement during the interim period.”

Setup cont...

• Between 6 and 8 weeks, Group 4 pups got to observe mom retrieve drugs a total of 6 times.

• Between 9 and 12 weeks, Group 4 pups got to observe mom retrieve drugs and seem to have been able to sniff drug sachet while in mom’s mouth.

• No other group got to observe Mom performing task or had any exposure to drugs...

untrained mom

trained mom

removed at 6 weeks

group 1 group 3

stay with mom until 12 weeks

group 2 group 4

Tested performance at 6 months

• At 6 months dogs tested for performance, ranked on a scale 1 to 10 with regards to...

• interest in task, manner in which approached sachet, & way it searched and found sachet

• if found, how the dog picked it up & whether the dog carried it back to handler

• Subjective, but testers did not know background of pups...

Results...

• Pups who observed mom retrieving sachet & had opportunity to sniff mom’s mouth did better...

• Seems clear that observational learning occurred, but we don’t know the relative importance of...

• observing mom perform task, and/or

• association of smelling sachet in mom’s mouth, and/or

• association of praise with the above

Slabbert, J. M. and O. A. E. Rosa (1997). "Observational learning of an acquired maternal behavior pattern by working dog pups: an alternative training method?" Applied Animal Behaviour Science 53: 309-316.

More thoughts...

• Simple but Reliable Rule:

• Stuff that you smell in mom’s mouth must be good, and thus, worth learning, remembering & finding...

• I sure wish I knew

• how important observing the act of retrieval was...

• does it matter if it is mom?

Pongracz et al: individual experience and social learning

Big idea...

• Dogs are conservative, they go with what worked in the past.

• what happens when what worked before doesn’t work any more?

• Observed behavior of human demonstrator can influence dog’s choice of behavior...

• what are they observing?

individual experience and social learning

Big idea...

• Previous success biases a dog’s choice of action even when an ‘obviously better’ choice of action is made available...

• dogs are conservative

• but what happens when what works in the past doesn’t work anymore, or a new and better option is available?

• Dogs can use actions of a human demonstrator to guide their choice of action

• but what are they observing?

Setup of experiment 1

Pongracz, P., A. Miklosi, et al. (2003). "Interaction between individual experience and social learning in dogs." Animal Behaviour 65(3): 595-603.

Door is never an option

Dogs first experience is

using door, which is subsequently

unavailable

Results from experiment 1

Pongracz, P., A. Miklosi, et al. (2003). "Interaction between individual experience and social learning in dogs." Animal Behaviour 65(3): 595.

Observing demonstrator

helps dog solve task

Previous experience with open

door seems to interfere

with choosing alternative

Experiment two: does experience interfere with choosing a new and better alternative

• Prior experience: dogs have to take detour to get to food...

• 3 detour demonstration trial (dog gets to do detour)

• 1 detour demonstration (dog gets to do detour)

• Test: can go through open door if they choose...

• Trial 1 door opened while eyes covered (no demonstration)

• Trials 2 and 3 dog sees food placed through open door (demonstration)



Chose to detour

Chose door

Dogs with more experience of

detouring persisted in detouring even when door was available



3 demonstrations

Dogs with a single demonstration were more focused on the door than those who

had three demonstrations

1 demonstration

Discussion

• Dogs tended to use first strategy that worked and would persist in using strategy even when a better one came along

• The more experience, the harder it was to change

• Socially acquired experiences given up slowly*

• Dogs did take advantage of watching a demonstrator with respect to taking a detour.

Discussion

• “Both of our experiments revealed the complex interaction between asocial (individual) and social learning that must be taken into account to understand how learning abilities in general contribute to increased fitness in animals.

• In experiment 1 social learning was advantageous in a situation where experience constrained the dogs’ behavior. [sorry, door is closed]

• On the other hand in experiment 2, dogs facing a novel situation and exposed to socially provided information regarding access to the target were reluctant to change their behavior, showing a preference for the more conservative (and socially learned) behavior.” [geez, use the door, silly dog]

Pongracz, P., A. Miklosi, et al. (2003). "Interaction between individual experience and social learning in dogs." Animal Behaviour 65(3): 595-603.

Thoughts...

• Nice demonstration of observational learning and of conservative, to a fault, decision-making on the part of the dogs...

• I am less convinced that the way the learning occurred (social) meant that it persisted longer. The observation is conflated with the actual experience.

• They make a lot of this in the paper...

Follow-on study: Are dogs attending to paths or attending to corners (stimulus enhancement)???

Pongracz, P., A. Miklosi, et al. (2003). "Preference for Copying Unambiguous Demonstrations in Dogs (Canis familiaris)." Journal of Comparative Psychology 117(3): 337-343.

AmbiguousUnambiguous

Are dogs attending to paths or attending to corners (stimulus

enhancement)???

And yes...

• There may be an SBRE rule or two lurking here as well...

• go with what you know

• Is demonstration example of stimulus enhancement (end of fence) or local enhancement (places to wander)?

McKinley and Young

Masters of understatement

• “There has been one notable failure using this method, this involved a lar gibbon who attacked the model-rival during training sessions; this probably occurred due to the aggressive and territorial nature of this species”

• Lesson: know your animal, and don’t trust your advisor...

McKinley, S. and R. J. Young (2003). "The efficacy of the model-rival method when compared with operant conditioning for training domestic dogs to perform a retrieval-selection task." Applied Animal Behaviour Science 81(4): 357-365.

Big idea of model-rival...

• Animal observes trainer and a “model-rival”

• Trainer: “Can you see the SOCKS?” & hands toy to M-R

• Model-Rival: “Yes I can, thank-you for the SOCKS” & hands toy to trainer

• repeat...

• M/R is modeling desired behavior and rival for attention and/or possession of object.

Big idea of model-rival

• “fetch Mr. Squirrel” & receive a treat

• Q: in dog’s mind does the label “Mr. Squirrel” refer to the object or to the act of retrieving it and getting a cookie?

• A: who knows, but Pepperberg argues it is the latter, because the reward is extrinsic. This makes the label context-specific (i.e., tied to the specific action)

• In model-rival training, the animal’s reward for successfully performing the task is the object itself. The reward is intrinsic...

• Pepperberg argues that this makes it more likely that the label becomes associated with the object, and thus can be used in other contexts...

• “how many Mr. Squirrels are there?”

Big idea of model-rival...

• To keep dog’s interest, trainer & model-rival

• “speak in a highly animated way” [lots of motion??]

• “look at target object at all times”, but

• “voice direction and body postures directed toward dog”

• After 2 minutes, dog gets to try...

The test...

• After 2 minute training session...

• Trial

• Target object part of a group of 3 objects

• Dog told to “Go get the SOCKS”

• Trial ends when dog retrieves correct item, time noted.

• Note: order of retrieval doesn’t directly matter!!!

Results...

McKinley, S. and R. J. Young (2003). "The efficacy of the model-rival method when compared with operant conditioning for training domestic dogs to perform a retrieval-selection task." Applied Animal Behaviour Science 81(4): 357-365.

“We found no significant effects of training method on training times... or on trial times...”

Thoughts...

• Very cool example of using stimulus enhancement & maybe local enhancement to possibly help dog make association between label and object.

• interesting that dogs may be able to make this association

• Raises the whole question of intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards

• Great to be exploring alternative approaches to training

Thoughts from Mr. Grinch...• We don’t know whether differences in training technique had any

impact on accuracy since this isn’t reported...

• why is article so silent on this point?

• What evidence is there for the following statement?

• “The m-r method resulted in the dog knowing what the object’s name was, whereas the operant method only resulted in the dogs knowing that retrieving the object results in a food reward”

Learning & Training

• Your dog has to be emotionally ready to learn

• Training is about motivation, timing and consistency

• Positive reinforcement teaches dog what to do

• Punishment teaches dog what not to do

• potential for serious & unintended side-effects

Learning & Training

• Be a shaper not a lurer

• Let the dog find its way, but be there to guide it along the way.

• Be a splitter not a lumper

• Break down a behavior into its smallest bits and train those.

Learning & Training

• Your goal as a trainer should be to be the source of all things good and wonderful.

• Positive not permissive.

• Its ok to control access to resources

• Find reasons to reward rather than excuses to feed

• Find the thing your dog is nuts about and use it.

• Cookie cutters are for cookies, not dogs

Learning & Training

• Don’t read too much into the highs or the lows...

• Sometimes best to think of yourself as training someone else’s dog (takes the emotion out of it...)

• Remember what may seem easy to us, is a “triple lutz on national TV” to your little dog

• Be patient, calm, and confident and you will be rewarded

Learning & Training

• Is a journey to be enjoyed by both, rather than a means to a goal.

In the end...

• Dogs are special, but this does not imply special cognitive mechanisms and abilities, rather implies ‘special’ interplay of genes/development/learning that ‘we see but through a glass darkly’

A parting thought...

• “For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, ... living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time...” - Henry Beston

• Humility, awe and a passion to know more

the learned dog class 15: observational learning and a parting word

Documents

animal cognition

behavior of animals

shettleworthsocial learning

final paper

blackwell publishing

extension policyif

new york

animals responsehmmm