Operant conditioning

A SUMMARY

TEXT: SARAH WANLESS

Horses start learning from day one. From the moment they find their feet and begin to nurse, their brains register information in their environment that they use to adapt their interactions and ensure optimal outcomes. It is therefore essential to remember that every interaction with your horse is teaching them something. Horses are always learning!

Like all animals, one of the methods horses learn through is a process called operant conditioning. Simply put, operant conditioning is behaviour modification via consequences, i.e. something happens, the horse either responds or does not respond, and there is a consequence. If the consequence is good, the behaviour is encouraged and will increase the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again. If the consequence is bad, the behaviour is discouraged, and the behaviour is less likely to reoccur.

REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT

There are two broad categories of operant conditioning: reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement in the learning event strengthens the behaviour or increases the frequency at which it occurs. Punishment causes a decrease in the intensity or frequency of the behaviour.

There are two types of punishment and two types of reinforcement. The terms positive and negative describe these variants, but the words have a particular meaning as they relate to operant conditioning and are used in a mathematical sense, not a value sense. Positive means you are adding something and negative means you are removing something. It is important to remember these meanings and not to associate the positive and negative in this context with good or bad.

THE FOUR QUADRANTS

The four quadrants of operant conditioning are as follows:

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT:

Positive reinforcement is when a (desirable) stimulus is offered when the desired behaviour is performed. The most common example here is giving a dog a treat when it sits. The consequence of the behaviour is good; therefore, the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again increases.

Clicker training is a perfect example of using positive reinforcement as an equestrian training method. When the horse performs the desired behaviour, it is marked (with a click), and a treat is provided. Over time the horse learns that the click is the reward, and treats no longer need to be provided.

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT:

Negative reinforcement involves removing an (aversive) stimulus when the horse performs the desired behaviour. This is the most common method used in training horses, as it is the quadrant behind the concept of pressure (the adverse stimulus) and release (the reinforcer). For example, when we apply pressure to the reins to get the horse to slow down or stop, and the horse performs the desired behaviour, the pressure is removed. By removing the adverse stimulus (pressure), the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again increases as the horse wants the pressure to be removed again in future. Fundamentally it is not the pressure that teaches, but the release!

POSITIVE PUNISHMENT:

Positive punishment involves adding an (aversive) stimulus that will reduce the frequency of the behaviour. While it is very controversial, since there are other, more successful methods of training, the most common example of positive punishment is smacking a horse when he does something undesirable, like bucking. The other point to bear in mind with positive punishment is that, while you are teaching the horse what behaviour you do not want, you are not teaching them what behaviour you do want. Over time this can lead to fear and a lack of ‘try’ in the horse as he is fearful of getting the answer to your request wrong, due to the potential for punishment.

NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT:

Negative punishment is the removal of a (desired) stimulus to reduce the frequency of the behaviour occurring. An example of this would be if your horse is pushy for your attention and mugging you for treats, and you remove yourself (your attention) and the treats (the desired stimulus) to decrease the likelihood of undesired behaviour occurring again. i.e. the horse learns that begging does not get the treats, so does not beg again in future.

TAKE-HOME

While positive reinforcement is becoming more popular in equestrian training, negative reinforcement will likely always play a central role. This is because, as prey animals, horses have evolved to escape aversive events, which makes them particularly predisposed to avoid the discomfort caused by pressure, meaning that they problem solve in the presence of pressure and remember what gave them the release!

The main benefit of using these reinforcer methods is that, by teaching the horse the behaviour that you do want and increasing the likelihood of occurrence, the occurrence of the corresponding undesired behaviour (biting vs not biting) falls away as a result, without needing to implement either form of punishment.