Reinforcement Systems: How to teach an animal to eat in a way that promotes learning new behaviors - Training #8

By now, most of us recognize that data has shown a continuous reinforcement schedule to be the most effective form of communication between ourselves and our learners. By backing up each bridge with a reinforcer, we build a strong relationship between the signal and the food. What we are continuing to do a deeper dive into, though, is what behavior happens between the click and the bridge. Eating is a behavior, in and of itself! Are the animals biting at the mesh, lunging for food, or doing a lot of extra movements between the bridge and food delivery? This presentation will over how we teach the “eating” behavior we’d like to see from our animals before we start shaping other behaviors, which then sets us up for success when we are teaching other behaviors.