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einforcer. Classical conditioning thus causes an animal to learn the
association between two stimuli.
Classical conditioning is used by elephant handlers in establishing a bridge. A
bridge is a term for the association between a stimulus such as a whistle,
clicker or the word ‘good’ and a tangible reward, a primary reinforcer such as
food. The word bridge is used because the stimulus ‘bridges’ the time
between when the elephant executes the desired behaviour and when it gets
its reward. Creating a bridge is very important as it is often very difficult to
present the actual reward at the correct time in order to reinforce the
behaviour. Elephant handlers establish a connection by associating a food
reward with a clicker (or any other stimulus like a whistle, or the word
“good”, etc) by clicking the clicker and delivering a favourite food item.
Initially these signals are meaningless but when paired with a reinforcer for a
long enough period of time, they become a reinforcer themselves. In
protected contact the bridge is usually a whistle and in free contact the word
‘good’.
This is repeated many times in a row with pauses in between the trials. After
a series of trials, the elephant begins to associate the sound with an upcoming
treat. This is called a conditioned reinforcer. The sound becomes a signal for the
upcoming reinforcement.
Operant conditioning is also used (Dineley 1984). In classical conditioning a
relationship is established between two independent events. In operant
conditioning a relationship is established between an aspect of the animal’s
own behaviour and the occurrence of an external event. Thus a bird may
associate turning over a leaf with finding an insect and each time he finds one
the response is reinforced, i.e. the association is formed between a behaviour
and a consequence. Positive reinforcement increases the occurrence of a
behaviour by providing a pleasant stimulus for reinforcement. Negative
reinforcement is the use of an unpleasant stimulus to produce a response; note
that the behaviour will again increase in frequency as a result of the unpleasant
stimulus. A good handler observes what the elephant does naturally,
determines the behaviour to be trained, determines what motivates the
elephant, and then modifies the behaviour through operant conditioning.
Techniques used to modify a behaviour through the use of positive
reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment may vary from handler to
handler. Both positive and negative reinforcement are used to achieve a
desired response, whereas punishment is used to discourage an undesirable
response and is only used when the animal performs an undesired behaviour.
Another method of dealing with undesirable behaviour (which is used in PC
situations) is the removal of a pleasant stimulus, e.g. a dolphin trainer walking
away with the bucket of fish. This is known as time-out. Punishment is the
application of an aversive stimulus to decrease a behaviour, like a cow
touching an electric fence.
Training an elephant to execute any given behaviour is essentially an exercise
in problem solving. The elephant has to figure out what the handler wants in
order to receive a reward. The clearer the handler can communicate the goals
to the elephant, the quicker the goals can be obtained. This is done through
successive approximation or shaping. Successive approximation is teaching a
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