動物的事‧響片訓練

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恐懼可能受到奬勵嗎？

(Can Fear Be Rewarded?)

原文出處： 動物行為同儕通訊（Animal Behavior Associates Newsletter）

November 14, 2007, Volume V Issue 11

http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com/

譯者：黃薇菁

譯文出處：『動物的事‧響片訓練』奇摩部落格

　　在所有存在已久的犬類行為及訓練相關迷思謬見中，最歷久不衰的或許是宣稱給予注意或安撫有可能增強動物恐懼的說法，訓練師蘇姍的啟蒙恩師們在近三十年前就是灌輸她這個觀念。

　　幾乎也在這三十年間，行為研究學者已獲知，奬勵和處罰很難影響情緒及非自主行為，你試過利用生理迴饋（biofeedback），以意識影響自己的心跳或其他生理狀態嗎？這不容易學得會，何況動物還缺乏人類的認知能力。

　　所以，如果你家狗兒害怕打雷，你抱著牠、安撫牠以協助牠放鬆安定，你認為牠很可能更害怕嗎？增強的作用是在增強物出現後增加行為發生的頻率，所以如果安撫會奬勵害怕的行為，那麼你家狗兒應該會變得更加害怕，而害怕的情緒會以可觀察的行為表現出來，如果狗兒沒有更加感到害怕，牠表現出的害怕行為也不會加劇。

　　人們似乎很堅持一個觀念，認為奬勵害怕的行為和奬勵害怕情緒可以是兩件事，這在人類身上有時屬實，我們都知道有些人會假裝自我犠牲，表現害怕無助，藉以搏取他人的注意及照料。

　　動物似乎不然，牠們不會假裝，如果牠們不感到害怕，牠們就沒有害怕的行為，當牠們的情緒改變，行為也隨同改變。

　　四○年代的行為研究學者曾制約老鼠，訓練牠們聽到鈴響時就跳到籠子另一邊以避免電擊，接下來的下一階段訓練中，研究學者在鈴響後把電擊換為起司。

　　在多次鈴響後出現起司的經驗之後，甚至當老鼠正準備跳到籠子另一邊時，你認為牠們變得更加害怕，增加了跳躍的頻率嗎？如果你相信起司可以增強跳躍的行為（以及恐懼），這應該是會發生的事。

　　但是事實恰恰相反，老鼠的恐懼降低了，跳躍行為消失，牠們開始吃起起司，這是個古典制約改變情緒而改變行為的例子，並沒有發生操作制約而奬勵到恐懼。

原文：

Of all the myths and misconceptions that have surrounded dog behavior and training for a very long time, perhaps the most persistent is the one that claims it is possible to reinforce an animal's fear by paying attention to him or trying to reassure him. This was certainly a belief some of Suzanne's first mentors indoctrinated her with close to thirty years ago.

For almost that long, behavioral researchers have known that it is difficult to influence emotional states and involuntary behaviors using rewards and punishments. Ever tried to influence your heart rate or other physiological parameter using biofeedback? Not easy to learn, even given the cognitive abilities of people that animals don't share.

So, if your dog is afraid of say thunder, and you hold your pet and calmly stroke her to help her relax and calm down do you think her fearful behavior is likely to increase? That's what reinforcement does - increase the frequency of behaviors it follows. So if reassurance rewards fearful behavior, then it also follows that your pet is becoming more afraid as a result. It's the emotion of fear that is expressed with observable behaviors. If your pet's feelings of being afraid don't intensify, then neither will her fearful behaviors.

There seems to be a persistent belief that it is possible to reward fearful behaviors without rewarding the emotion of fear. This may be true in people. We all know individuals with a "martyr" mentality who will act fearful and helpless just to get attention and have others take care of them.

This doesn't seem to be true for animals. They don't pretend. If they don't feel afraid, they don't act afraid. When their emotional state changes, so do their behaviors.

Behavioral researchers back in the 1940s, conditioned rats to jump to the other side of their enclosure in order to avoid the shock that followed a buzzer. In the next phase of training, the researchers changed the sequence so that cheese followed the buzzer and the shock was discontinued.

Over multiple experiences with cheese follows buzzer, even as the rats attempted to jump to the other side, do you think the rats became more fearful and increased their jumping behavior? That's what would happen if you believe the jumping behavior (and therefore the fear) was reinforced by the cheese.

Just the opposite occurred. The rats' fear decreased, the jumping stopped and they began to eat the cheese. This is an example of classical conditioning changing behavior by changing emotional state rather than operant conditioning rewarding fear.