Download Psy 331 study guide week 13

Psy 331.03 Advanced Laboratory in Operant Conditioning
Spring 2017
Study guide/Reading Summary
Week 13: 04/17/2017
Overall, 2011. That dog is smarter than you know.
1. Describe the area of the brain that is involved in fear learning and reward learning.
2. What is LTP? Why is this important for learning?
3. What medications are used to treat behavioral conditions in dog and cats? How do these drugs affect the
brain and learning?
4. According to Overall, how much CAN dogs learn?
5. How do nutritional factors affect learning in dogs?
6. How does aging affect a dog’s brain and thus its learning?
7. How similar do you think the brains of dogs and humans are, in terms of the neurobiology of learning?
8. Why might cognitive research with canines be important for understanding human behavior?
Fugazza and Miklosi (2014) Deferred imitaition and declarative memory in domestic dogs.
1. What is deferred imitation? What types of data provide evidence of this behavior?
2. How is deferred imitation measured in dogs?
3. Describe the method for this study: Who were the subjects? How was the “Do as I do” training
conducted? What was the testing phase?
4. What behaviors were assessed? How was the “Clever Hans” effect controlled?
5. What were the results? Could the dogs show deferred imitation?
6. Why is the ability to show deferred imitation important for understanding canine behavior? What does it
tell us about a dog’s cognitive ability? What does it tell us about a dog’s memory?
Scandurra, Mongillo, Marinelli, Aria and D'Aniello (2016)
1. What is observational learning, and how does one demonstration observational learning with a dog?
2. Describe the procedures used in the study. What were the 2 parts of the study, and what was the
importance of each?
3. What were the outcomes of each phase of the study? Was observational learning demonstrated? Why or
why not?
4. Is observational learning an effective training tool for dog trainers? Why or why not?
Oldenburg, Schoon & Heitkonig (2016). Wildlife detection dog training.
1. What can a wildlife detection dog be taught to do?
2. What was the purpose of the study?
3. What were the methods? Who was the subject? What were the target odors? What “materials” were
used, and what were the odor vs. decoy scents?
4. What was done for pretraining and training?
5. What were the results? How did the dog do on Test 1? Test 2? Test 3?
6. What did the authors conclude about a) scent training and b) concept formation?