AALAS Webinar - Behavioral Training in Laboratory Animals: Effects of Patterns of Reinforcement

Behavioral Training in Laboratory Animals: Effects of Patterns of Reinforcement WEB-071: Dr. Melissa Shyan-Norwalt returns to discuss more on animal training. Her previous webinar focused on styles and training and their outcomes, so this next presentation will address patterns of reinforcement. Patterns or "schedules" of reinforcement refer to how often, how frequently, and when you provide a consequence for a behavior. Each directly and predictably affects how often the animal will produce the goal (or "anti-goal") behavior. You can give a reinforcer for every presentation of the goal behavior (continuous reinforcement); you can give a reinforcer for some of the presentations of the goal behavior (partial reinforcement); or you can withhold a reinforcer for all presentations of the goal behavior (extinction). There are six standard schedules of reinforcement and several nontypical schedules, which will be discussed. Strategies will be provided for applying these schedules to advantage and avoiding their pitfalls. Presenter: Melissa Shyan-Norwalt, Ph.D. Dr. Melissa Shyan-Norwalt received her Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii in Comparative Cognition. She was a scientist and animal behaviorist at the Iams Pet Food Company for four years. She is presently an Educator Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati and runs her pet behavior consulting busine3ss "Companion Animal Problem Solvers, Inc," seeing clients throughout Indiana. Her current research areas include the human-animal bond, dog behavior and environmental and socialization enrichment for companion animals. Dr. Shyan-Norwalt has numerous publications in Scientific Journals and has been interviewed for local and national level TV, magazines, and newspapers. She has presented research papers and seminars at national scientific and professional conferences and has been an invited speaker at veterinary colleges and at national animal welfare and shelter conferences.