Fagen et al. (Learning approach)

Variables

*No independent/dependent variables An assistant observed each training session and recorded: - Minutes of training - Number of verbal cues made to the elephant - Success rate for each behaviour and sequence (after session ten, they were tested every 5th session on everything they had learned so far); success criteria 80% (correct behaviour shown 8/10 times)

GRAVE: reliability

+ Controlled observation + Operationalisation of variables, allowing objective data to be analyzed: # of offers needed to pass, HFUBB (here, fluid, up, bucket, blow) + Standardizations used: behavior checklist, defining behaviors, SPR training time, verbal cues, training location (stalls) - Flexible sessions to suit ability of each animal (personalities, stress levels, previous experience) could influence later studies

GRAVE: validity

+ Mahouts were asked not to speak to or give signals to the elephants + Verbal cues given had no meaning in Nepali or English (***Both of these controls limited the influence of demand characteristics) + Structured Observation/Behavioural checklist used + Quantitative data collected - correct behavioural responses to the verbal cues/offers (allows objective analysis of whether or not SPR was successful) - Subjectivity: only 1 observer made the decisions about pass/fail - Lacks ecological validity: elephants in the wild do not blow out saline water into bucket

GRAVE: ethics

+ Minimising distress/psychological harm and maximise benefit for the animals - Elephants, although chained, were free to walk away if they did not want to participate. The chains on legs were long enough to freely roam + Reward, deprivation and aversive stimuli - the reward the elephants were given were chopped banana (rather than bamboo stick normally used). The elephants were not deprived of food despite failing. The discomfort of the stimuli which was the syringe was rewarded with bananas. + Housing - The stalls were clean. The elephants were allowed to socialize by grazing in the jungle together and going to river for water + Species - elephants born in captivity and not rare or endangered.

GRAVE: applicability

+ Using these learning techniques can enhance captive animal welfare and help increase the safety and well-being of those working with animals + Animals could be trained for other veterinary procedures using these principles, e.g. taking blood samples or X-rays, decreasing stress and improve wellbeing + SPR technique useful to manage animals and used to treat diseases in animals

Shaping

- A technique that utilizes the idea of operant conditioning by reinforcing smaller behaviors that lead to a larger sequence/gradually molding or training an organism to perform a specific response (behavior) by reinforcing any responses that are similar to the desired response.

Sample

- Five female elephants - Four of the five elephant subjects (Numbers 1-4) were 5 to 7 year-old juveniles who were born at the stable. (born in captivity, not plucked from wild=animal ethics of species) - The remaining elephant subject was an adult female, (Number 5), estimated to be in her 50s. Selected by the following criteria: 1. Docility - easy to handle 2. Not pregnant 3. Willingness of the elephant's handlers (mahouts) to participate in the study 4. Had been trained with traditional methods 5. No previous exposure to SPR training

Behavioural chaining

- Forward chaining- first behavior is rewarded, then second behavior is rewarded, then third and forth - Backward chaining- the final behavior of the sequence is rewarded first and then trainer works backwards. The primary reinforcer is only ever given after the final behavior is displayed.

GRAVE: generalizability

- Only 5 female elephants → may not generalise to male elephants or African elephants (as it's not representative of the elephant population)

Verbal cues

- Only after the elephant performed the individual behavioral task did the trainer pair a verbal cue with the behavior. - Verbal cues were monosyllabic, distinctive words created to mean nothing in either English or Nepali. WHY?? To avoid any misconception on the mahouts' part that the elephants could potentially comprehend the meaning of the verbal cues. This made sure the elephants actually learned it without outside influence

Psych being investigated

- Operant Conditioning: Learning new behaviors through the use of reinforcements and punishments. The study used operant conditioning through primary and secondary positive reinforcement which involved using a whistle blow as the secondary reinforcer and chopped bananas as the primary reinforcer or the reward for the correct behavior. The whistle blow with paired with a follow-up banana reward. - Chaining: Linking a sequence of behaviors together. In the study, once the elephant was skilled in the five basic behavioral tasks, the trainer progressed to stringing the behvaviors together. - Shaping: A technique that reinforces smaller behaviors that lead to a larger sequence by training an organism to perform a behavior by reinforcing responses similar to the desired response. The trainers gave the bananas as rewards for the small desired behaviors which led to the elephant performing the entire procedure.

Data collection

- Session times: assistant timed each training session to the minute. If a session could not be, or was not, accurately timed due to lack of personnel, missing data points were substituted with the mean minutes per session of that individual - Number of offers: An assistant tallied the total number of times the elephant was given a cue for a certain behavior - Performance tests: Starting after Session 10, a test given to each elephant every five sessions (after Sessions 10, 15, 20, etc.). (Tests were not administered until after Session 10 because the authors anticipated that a few sessions would be needed for the elephants to understand the training, with a passing score taken to be 80% or higher for each task (i.e., 8 or more correct out of 10 offers.) - If an elephant had not been taught a behavior yet, it was not tested and the elephant received a default score of 0% in the records. The sequence was then given a score equivalent to the elephant's success rate in the test (80%-100%). - If an elephant failed to pass on a sequence of behaviors, each task or shorter sequences were re-tested to determine the point of failure. - Training was considered complete and concluded when an elephant had a passing

Procedure: Training

- Slowly, touching the outside of the trunk tip with the syringe was transitioned to touching the inside of the nostril and to gradually inserting the syringe tip into the nostril. - Increasing amounts of fluid were introduced into the trunk via the syringe, starting with just a drop and building up in small increments (ranging from 1-15 mL) to reach a tolerance to the full 60 mL (started off with less than built of to 60) of fluid used for sample collection. - All elephants were started at 0.9% saline as the sample medium. They were then transitioned to plain water for training purposes. Once this step in the training process was reached, each elephant was offered water to drink at the beginning of each training session to reduce the likelihood that the elephant would drink the solution and interfere with successful completion of the tasks.

Research method

- Structured, non-participant observation - Opportunity sample - Data Collection techniques: Behavioural Checklist - used to measure how successful the elephants were in completing trunk-wash behaviours, which included: 1. Trunk here: put trunk into trainer's hand (for insertion of saline/sterile water) 2. Trunk up: lift up trunk and hold (to let fluid flow to trunk base) 3. Trunk down: lower trunk into bucket 4. Blow into the bucket: to collect fluid 5. Hold steady: keep trunk still.

Results

- The four juvenile elephants all successfully learned the trunk wash in the time available for the study (25-35 sessions, averaging 12 min per session), while the adult elephant, Elephant 5, did not (did not meet criteria for blowing and hold steady, never desensitised to the syringe). - Elephant 2 had the least amount of sessions with only 25 - Total minutes of training for each elephant during the course of all sessions. Mean = 367 min. - Elephant 4 took the longest with mean of 451 min while elephant 2 took the shortest with mean of 257 - Participant dropout began occurring after Session 25 as participants completed their training. The mean correct tasks at 25 was 86.55 - Easiest behaviour → blow into bucket (54 offers) - Most difficult behaviour → Trunk here (295 offers)

Sequence of behaviour

1) The elephant needed to put the end of her trunk in the trainer's hand 2) Allow the trainer to instill saline or sterile water into the trunk 3) Lift the trunk upward so that the fluid ran to the base of the trunk 4) Hold the fluid in the base of the trunk 5) Blow out the sample of liquid All of these behavioral tasks had to occur smoothly in succession so that none of the fluid was lost on the ground and the elephant did not drink the solution.

4 Techniques of initial training

1) Understanding the reinforcers - get elephant to understand connection between primary and secondary reinforcer (pairing whistle with banana) 2) Capture - this is when elephant spontaneously performs behavior necessary for truck wash (it gets captured by rewarding with primary and secondary reinforcer). This was necessary for elephant to blow out the water. 3) Lure - this is when elephant is tempted into a necessary position by strategically placing a reward (a banana) 4) Shaping - relies on natural variation in the quality of the behaviors offered during repetition and works by rewarding only the behaviors offered that are closer to the eventual goal. This rewarding of the "best" behaviors offered incrementally brings the average response closer to the desired goal.

How is the study related to the learning approach

1. The first assumption states that life begins as a "blank slate" with changes to our behaviour resulting from interactions with the environment. Fagen supports this since the elephants successfully learned the trunk wash sequence. The elephants originally did not know how to do a trunk wash, but after the situation of the SPR training, the elephants learned how to do the behavioural sequence of the trunk wash. 2. The second assumption is that behavior is learnt through social learning, operant conditioning, and classical conditioning that involve stimuli in the environment. The study used operant conditioning and positive reinforcement through its Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR) training. The secondary reinforcer was the whistle while the chopped bananas was the primary reinforcer.

Data collection techniques

Behavioural Checklist - used to measure how successful the elephants were in completing trunk-wash behaviours, which included: 1. Trunk here: put trunk into trainer's hand (for insertion of saline/sterile water) 2. Trunk up: lift up trunk and hold (to let fluid flow to trunk base) 3. Trunk down: lower trunk into bucket 4. Blow into the bucket: to collect fluid 5. Hold steady: keep trunk still.

Individual differences

Given the individuality of each elephant and different rates of learning, there was no prescribed amount of time spent at each stage in the training process. Progression through the training was dictated by the success of the individual elephant, and training plans were tailored to the individuals' needs at the discretion of the trainer (the first author) to optimize learning. - One elephant preferred the saline over the water and would continue to drink the saline after rejecting the offered drinking water. She was transitioned over immediately to using water instead of saline as the sample medium, and her success rate improved dramatically with this approach. (Individual explanations)

Individual vs situational

Individual - performance and training times seen in the animal, some faster to learn than others Situational - process of engaging in SPR allowed four of the elephants to complete a trunk was, if this situation never happened, they couldn't do it without reward and encouragement

Training

Lasted 2.5-3 hours SPR training = (secondary positive reinforcement) is used in this study Primary reinforcer (biological needs) = chopped bananas Secondary reinforcer = whistle blow • Training was conducted during morning and afternoon sessions (7:30 a.m.-10 a.m. and 4pm-7pm) while the elephants were chained in their stalls. (Due to mahout unavailability, not every elephant was trained every session; however, no elephant went more than 2 days without training) • Elephants could clearly indicate a preference to not participate in training sessions by walking to the other side of their stalls or simply turning away from the trainer. • Mahouts were present at all sessions and stood on the periphery for the safety of the trainer, but they were clearly instructed not to speak to or signal the elephants in any way during the sessions to maintain the integrity of the training (+validity)

Nature vs Nurture debate

Nature: The 5th elephant could not learn the behavior due to its older age and biological factors that comes with aging Nurture: engaging in SPR protocols help developed the learning/luring, capture, giving reinforcers are all learned behaviors

Procedure: Smooth transitions

Next, the elephant was taught to string the other behaviors together in small sequences to ensure smooth transitions. Trainer marks the behaviors at the appropriate times and then followed up with primary reinforcer. Once the elephant could comfortably do the varying sequences, the trainer strung together all the behaviors: 1) Trunk here with a short steady 2) Trunk up with a longer steady 3) Bucket 4) Blow

Procedure for behavioural chaining

Once the elephant was skilled in the five basic behavioral tasks, the trainer progressed to creating strings of behaviors via behavioral chaining 1) Blows towards bucket rewarded. The behavior was then shaped for blows centered inside the bucket. 2) Trainer used marker (the whistle) at appropriate stages of the sequence BUT banana (primary reinforcer) only given at end of correct sequence 3) Final stage: chain together- TRUNK WASH (short steady), TRUNK UP (long steady), BUCKET, BLOW

2 strengths

One strength of the study is reliability. It was a controlled observation with many standardizations like the same verbal cues, training always occurring in stalls, SPR training time, etc. It also operationalized the variables by analyzing the # of offers needed to pass and the behavioural checklist (here, up, bucket, blow, hold). The good reliability allows the study to easily be replicated. Another strength is ethics. They minimized the distress/psychological harm which states that the animals should not be in unnecessary pain. This was followed since the elephants could freely walk away if they did not want to participate and chains on legs were long enough to freely roam. The Reward, deprivation and aversive stimuli guideline which states rewards should be given and that alternatives to aversive stimuli and deprivation should be avoided where possible was followed since the reward the elephants were given were chopped banana (rather than bamboo stick normally used). The elephants were not deprived of food despite failing. The discomfort of the stimuli which was the syringe was rewarded with bananas. Their housing was also good since the stalls were clean and the elephants were allowed to socialize by grazing in the jungle together and going to river for water.

2 weaknesses

One weakness is generalizability. There were only 5 female elephants which may not generalise to male elephants. The species of elephants that were used also may not be representative of other elephant species. The weak generalizability means that the study is not representative of the entire elephant population. Another weakness is validity. There was low subjectivity since only 1 observer made the decisions about the pass/fail of the behaviors demonstrated by the elephants. The study also lacks ecological validity. This is because elephants in the wild do not blow out saline water into bucket. The low validity means that the study doesn't generalize its findings to real-life situations.

Quantitative and qualitative data

Quantitative: - Session times - Number of offers - Number of training sessions - Completion of tasks - Number of tests passed Qualitative - None

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths: + Coding the observations, allowing objective data to be analyzed: # of offers needed to pass, HFUBB (here, fluid, up, bucket blow) + Standardizations used: behavior checklist, defining behaviors, SPR training time, can be all replicated. Weaknesses: - Outcome can be subjective - Trainer did not use exact same criteria for every behavior response made by elephant/there were no recordings to ensure inter-observer reliability

Process of desensitization and counterconditioning methods

The syringe and sample fluid were introduced which gradually acclimated the elephants to these elements of the trunk wash. In this training, a new, potentially negative experience was introduced incrementally and paired with a reward (a banana) to make the experience less aversive to the elephant. The trainer introduced the syringe in the trunk-here position followed by the complete chain of trunk-wash behaviors. The elephant was rewarded for remaining in the trunk-here position. As the syringe was presented and then brought gradually closer to the trunk tip until contact was made.

Conclusions

This study shows that it is possible to train juvenile, free-contact, traditionally trained elephants in Nepal. The use of only SPR techniques can make elephants voluntarily participate in a trunk wash.

Aim

To determine the effectiveness of secondary positive reinforcement (SPR) in training free-contact elephants in Nepal to voluntarily participate in a trunk wash for the purpose of tuberculosis testing. - To date, no studies that the authors are aware of have been published to document and quantify the success of SPR training with elephants.

Procedure

• Elephants went into the jungle to graze under the control of their mahouts from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day • They were leg-chained to posts in open stalls for the remainder of the day and night. Leg chains were normally placed with both front legs chained together or on a single front leg, with a chain approximately 6 ft to 8 ft long (1.8 m to 2.4 m) between them and the post. This setup allowed enough laxity in the chains for the elephant to shuffle in a diameter that was 6 ft to 8 ft around her stake. • The elephants' diet consisted mainly of fresh grasses and dhana (packets of grain, nutritional supplements, and grasses). • The elephants had access to the river for water during their grazing time but were otherwise not offered water outside of the training protocol so they would not reject the saline.

Background

• Traditional training methods rely on punishment • Punishment and aversion techniques rely on a negative stimulus, such as pain or fear of pain. • In traditional methods (Southeast Asia), elephants are trained using the pain inflicted by the sharp end of a whittled bamboo stick, known as the kocha in Nepal. • In Nepal, captive elephant management relies on unlimited contact between handlers and trainers (Locke, 2006), a management system known as free contact. • A different system called 'protected contact', improves keeper safety by maintaining a barrier between the handler and elephants and that relies solely on positive reinforcement or reward-based training. •One form of positive reinforcement used in protected contact utilizes a distinctive sound marker, which acts as a secondary reinforcer or conditioned reinforcer. •After using the sound marker, it is consistently followed by a primary positive reinforcer, often food. This method of training is called secondary positive reinforcement (SPR) training. •Once the animal is conditioned to the marker-reward relationship, the marker can more precisely indicate the moment the animal performs