Effect of Conditioned Reinformce Type on Acquisition of Targeting Behavior in Canis familiaris : Clicking versus Vocalizing.

Abstract

In the 20th century B.F. Skinner converted haphazard animal training into a scientifically based process called operant conditioning. Skinner also discovered that delivering a reinforcer to animals at the exact moment a desired behavior was performed was critical. To solve the problem created by delays in delivery of reinforcers Skinner proposed using a stimulus that could be ?conditioned? as a reinforcer (CR) to signal to an animal that a food reinforcer was coming. The current study tested the hypothesis that dogs will learn faster when a ?Click? CR is used than when a verbal word, ?Good?, CR is used in training dogs to touch and follow a target.