Your+Dog++May+2019

http://www.yourdog.co.uk 61

“This is classical

conditioning

in action...”

Image: Sovfoto, Getty Images.

▼

at the Institute of Experimental Medicine.

Under his direction, which was to continue

for another 45 years until the end of his life,

this institute became one of the leading

centres of physiological research.

It was here that Pavlov started

research into the physiology of digestion,

discovering that the nervous system

played the dominant part in regulating the

digestive process; this discovery is the basis

of modern physiology of digestion. As his

research continued, he used laboratory

dogs to study gastric systems.

While measuring the salivation rates

of the dogs, he found that in anticipation

of being fed, they would produce saliva

when they heard or smelled food. This was

nothing unusual; anyone who knows dogs

knows that this is a normal rel ex response

(have you ever sat near a Labrador when

you are eating a biscuit?).

MAKING CONNECTIONS

What Pavlov did notice, however, was

unexpected — the dogs began to salivate

when events occurred that were otherwise

unrelated to feeding, but predicted it.

Pavlov discovered that by playing sounds to

the dogs prior to feeding them, they could

be conditioned to unconsciously associate

neutral noises and events with being fed.

He found that the dogs salivated in

response to a door being opened for

a researcher to enter to feed them. He also

successfully used a variety of sounds, such

as a buzzer and a metronome, to predict

food with the same response.

Pavlov started from the idea that there

were some things a dog didn’t need to

learn as they were natural behaviours. As

an example, dogs do not need to learn to

salivate when they see food. This is

a hard-wired response, so in behavioural

terms it is called an unconditioned

response (as it doesn’t have to be learned/

conditioned). In his experiment, Pavlov

used a metronome (and not a bell as most

people think) because this was a sound that

didn’t produce any response in the dogs,

so it was a neutral stimulus that didn’t do

anything at all.

Then Pavlov began to introduce the

metronome just before he gave food to

the dogs. After a number of repeated trials,

he discovered that the metronome on its

own caused an increase in salivation. The

dogs had formed an association between

the metronome and the food, and a new

behaviour had been learned.

This response is called a conditioned

response (because it has been learned),

and the metronome, which previously

meant nothing, has become a conditioned

stimulus. This is classical conditioning in

action and it is also often called a Pavlovian

response — no guesses as to why!

This all sounds pretty dry and irrelevant,

until you think about what that actually

means. It means you can take something

that means nothing to the dog, and, by

linking it to a reliable outcome, you can

give it meaning. As an example, a piece of

leather with a loop on one end and a clip

on the other started of as something

that had no meaning for your dog. Now,

of course, your dog has learned that you

getting a lead out reliably predicts a walk,

and so he will bounce around at the sight

of the lead.

A dog bowl, which originally meant

nothing to your dog, will make him excited

about the prospect of dinner.

It’s not just positive things that dogs

make associations with, however. A dog

with separation anxiety can come to

associate you putting your work shoes on

with you leaving.

This is classical conditioning in action,

and dogs are masters at it, largely because

they watch us so closely and notice

everything we do with regard to them. This

is one of the reasons why they are so easy

to train.

The most exciting thing for us about

Pavlov’s discovery, however, is that the

DID YOU KNOW?

Pavlovian conditioning could

so easily have been called

Twitmyer conditioning (which

doesn’t have the same ring

to it) as psychologist Edwin

Twitmyer, at the University

of Pennsylvania, discovered

classical conditioning at

approximately the same time

as Pavlov. However, the two

were unaware of each other’s

simultaneous research and

Pavlov received credit for

the i ndings.

Ivan Pavlov watching an experiment

with a dog, summer 1934.

When your dog gets excited on

seeing the lead, that’s conditioning.

58-60 YD Pavlov CS(SW)ok.indd 61 25/03/2019 15:20