Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Psychology

PDF

Master's Theses

Theses/Dissertations

2015

Animal training

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Effects Of Failure On Subsequent Performance In The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus), Lisa Kay Lauderdale Dec 2015

Effects Of Failure On Subsequent Performance In The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus), Lisa Kay Lauderdale

Master's Theses

The current study examined the immediate effects of two types of failure during operant-conditioning based training sessions in 11 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program in San Diego, CA. While learning a multi-faceted behavior not commonly found in nature, such as beaching, animals are likely to perform approximations of the behavior that are not successful and do not result in reinforcement. The effects of failure on beaching trials were systematically investigated over a three-month period by determining the mean failure rate and the probability of success after initial success, initial attempts, and initial …