Learning approach: Fagen et al. (elephant learning)

Psychology AS · The core studies. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

In operant conditioning, behaviour followed by a pleasant result is repeated. Giving a reward after a behaviour is positive reinforcement. Working elephants are often trained with punishment. Fagen et al. (2014) asked whether elephants in Nepal could instead be trained with secondary positive reinforcement to do a trunk wash, which gives a sample used to test for tuberculosis.

Food (chopped banana) was the primary reinforcer. A whistle was first paired with the food until it became a secondary reinforcer, and then marked each correct action. The trunk wash was taught in small steps, using shaping, and the steps were joined by behavioural chaining. Elephants were free to walk away.

The four young elephants learned the whole trunk wash. The older adult did not.

Rules to remember

Sample: 5 female elephants at a stable in Nepal: 4 juveniles and 1 adult. They were trained with their handlers (mahouts) present.
Primary reinforcer: food, which meets a biological need. Secondary reinforcer: the whistle, which gained its value by being paired with food.
Capture: reward a behaviour the animal does naturally. Lure: use food to guide the animal into position. Shaping: reward actions that come closer and closer to the target.
Behavioural chaining: join separately trained actions into one sequence (trunk here, trunk up, bucket, blow, steady).
Data: structured observation with a behavioural checklist; a behaviour was passed when the elephant did it correctly on at least 80% of test trials.
Result: the 4 juveniles learned the full trunk wash within the study; the adult did not, possibly because of her age and health.
Weaknesses: very small sample, no comparison group, possible observer bias.

Common mistake

Students call the whistle a punishment or a primary reinforcer. It is a secondary reinforcer: it has no value of its own and works only because it has been paired with food.

Worked example

A trainer waits until an elephant happens to lift its trunk by itself, then at once blows the whistle and gives banana. Which training technique is this: capture, lure or shaping?

The elephant performed the action naturally. The trainer did not guide it with food, so it is not a lure.
The complete action was rewarded, not a series of closer and closer attempts, so it is not shaping.
Rewarding a behaviour that the animal offers naturally is capture. The whistle marks the moment and the banana is the primary reinforcer.

Answer: Capture, supported by secondary positive reinforcement (whistle, then food).

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