operant conditioning, the manner in which learned behavior is acquired, is a form of semantics: a way to make the incomprehensible understandable for the individual, by transferrign the universal motivation of self-interest to anything that does not already contain it. It gives to any act the reason why. WHich is not otherwise simple.
In a single use of applied behavior analysis the grander meanings of its timeless theme: transformation. Thre is a relignment of worldview that a parent of an autistic child can be forced to undergo in permitting the momentary yet awful distress caused by "redirection": it is necessary to break down the old order for a new one to rise in its place. Before the child can understand the compliance yields positive results for her, she has to be sometimes forcibly placed in the position where she is able to experience it firsthand.
Tying a shoe:
The boy concentrates as he tries to think about where to begin, which the instructor has demonstrated by making an X with her arms: Cross the two ends.
CLick.
He looks a little surprised at the sound made by the toy clicker in her hand, but it quickly vanishes under a smile; he looks to her to make certain the sound means the reward is justified. He reaches into the small plastic bag on the table--"Yep, just one," she says, nodding, in reply to his look of uncertainty--and drops something small and hard into a bowl. He is obviously pleased, smiling broadly now, ready for the next step. Now he loops one end of the lace around and under the other. Click. Another reward goes in the bowl.
This is a method known as TAGteach (teaching with acoustic guidance, essentially clicker training for humans,) skills are taught painlessly and efficiently, sometimes to those who have found it difficult to learn in any other way. SOmething about our brains- an evolutionary development that rooted so deep and long ago it is funcional even in abnormal or simpler mammalian brains= responds most naturally to learning by feedback, most successfully when action results in instantaneous reward. Being taught in the way we were built to acquire knowledge feels "right" to us.
Circular Time:
Past connections and associations will appear in the mind when we are in a situation which demands some action.
...Skinner discovered that the rate of the rat's bar-pressing response was dependent not on what happened before, as with Pavlov's bell and the salivation reflex it triggered, but rather on what happened after the bar was pressed. The appearance of a pellet of feed caused the rat's future act- pressing on the bar again, say, or not doing so, or doing it faster and faster, or for longer or shorter duration between rewards. THe rat's behavior thus operated on the environment, and his future axts were always controlled by its effects.
Skinner gave us behavioral objectives, the use of reinforcers (rewards), individualized instruction, the simple-to-complex sequenceing of content, the use of active practice by students, the use of frequent feedback to students, self-pacing, y mastery learning.
Traditional trainers are enforcers: they command, and then enforce the fulfillment of the command. A command is a veiled threat. If not, then application of force commences: an unpleasant sound, a smack, a leash pop. The animal learns to perform a behavior in order to avoid unpleasantness.
The positve-reinforcement trainer, on the other hand, starts with the outcome: here is the treat. Next, it's paired with, or conditioned to, what amounts to a symbole (a click sound, a hand gesture). It would appear that operant conditioning is indeed as ancient as life itself: it is expressed in the structure of an orininary tale.
And then- light and magic. "We let the animal discover that it can cause the marker signal to happen by its own actions.
We dabbed hot dog grease onto the end of our target sticks; as soon as ROsa went to sniff it, which took, oh, a sliver of a second, she got a 'click' followed by a treat. This cause a look of mild surprise but she already knew that this clicking business was all about. Do this, get that. She only had to figure out what "this" was. I was told to wait until she had run through the possibilities: Did I get that click for sitting? No? For looking up? NO? For starting to get antsy and ready to let our a scream of frustration? No? How about for putting my nose near that thing? Click.
IN a matter of seconds she was relably running back- we were told to toss the treats in different directions onto the ground nearby, so our dogs were forced to break position, then come back in order to do it again. This way they learned solidly the act that was desired: going to touch the end of the stick, not sitting in one place where a stick happened to be in the neighborhood. In a few trials, she was flying back to bump the end of the stick ever more forcefully with her nose. That's my pug! As soon as it was abundantley clear she knew what was wanted, I was to add the cue: say the word I wanted to associate with the action. It could be anything, of course; it was possible to get very silly with cues. The word I chose was "touch." THe plan was that henceforth she would only touch upon receiving the cue (and it became my job to see it through, by reinforcing only the touch that was cued and no other).
Premack had discored that what is rewarding is fluid. It is relative to what else is rewarding, too, which is both hierarchical and changeable. His lab rats would drink water they didn't particularly need in order to get something they wanted even more a run on an exercise wheel. When they were geniunely thirsty, however, they would run even when they didn't want to in order to get the water they craved. This finding, that access to a high-probability behavior reinforces a low-porbability behavior, became known as the Premack PRinciple.
Making the choice for himself lets him own his actions, and in one small way, his life.
Positive reinforcement instilles self control. The individual learns when to reward herself, as it were, on her own say-so. Here, behavoiroal control is a motivation originating in the organism. It is not imposed from without. YOu can't learn self-control if someone's always one step ahead, arranging the means to cotrol you.
Chomsky accused Skinner of imposing control, but it is precisely the opposite. In the world according to operant conditioning, you are given nothing but opportunities to conrol yourself. And this is how an indiviual reaps social benefit.
The clicker is not magic, but it is a symbol of the sudden change from nothing into something that communication brings into being.
"Pure capturing" is waiting till the behavior is offered and clicking or it."You mean I, little old me, I can MAKE you click?"
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