Thanks to operant conditioning , any animal can be discipline to do just about anything as long as the individual actions that comprise the larger , complex behavior are within the brute ’s natural power . let in teaching a firedog to “ drive ” a bike .
B. F. Skinnerreferred to this process as shaping . In1953 , he described it this way ( emphasis add up ):
We first give the bird food when it turns somewhat in the direction of the topographic point from any part of the cage . This increases the oftenness of such doings . We then withhold reinforcement until a svelte effort is made toward the spot . This again alters the general distribution of behavior without acquire a young unit . We continue by reinforcing berth successively closer to the spot , then by reinforcing only when the forefront is moved more or less forward , and last only when the beak actually makes contact with the daub . … The original probability of the response in its last form is very low ; in some cases it may even be zero . In this way we can build complicated operants which would never appear in the repertoire of the being otherwise . By reinforce a serial of successive approximations , we fetch a uncommon reception to a very gamy chance in a short clock time . … The total act of release toward the place from any full stop in the box , walking toward it , raising the head , and striking the spot may seem to be a functionally ordered unit of measurement of behavior ; but it is construct by a continual process of differential reinforcement from uniform behavior , just as the sculpturer shapes his figure from a lump of clay .
you’re able to use operant conditioning in other ways , too :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsWQfZKzz5k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AjNgrJABns
To learn more about operant conditioning , jibe out this explainer I compose last yr , over at my Scientific American web log , The Thoughtful Animal .
https://jalopnik.com/colombian-man-teaches-dog-to-ride-motorcycle-1547383974
Animals
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