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Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.

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Is the Click the Trick? Examining the Efficacy of Clickers and Other Reinforcement Methods in Training Naïve Dogs to Perform New Tasks

Description
A handheld metal cricket noisemaker known as a "clicker" is often used in dog training to teach dogs new behaviors; however, evidence for the superior efficacy of clickers as opposed to providing solely primary reinforcement or other secondary reinforcers in the acquisition of novel behavior in dogs is almost entirely…

A handheld metal cricket noisemaker known as a "clicker" is often used in dog training to teach dogs new behaviors; however, evidence for the superior efficacy of clickers as opposed to providing solely primary reinforcement or other secondary reinforcers in the acquisition of novel behavior in dogs is almost entirely anecdotal. We sought to determine under what circumstances a clicker may result in acquisition of a novel behavior to a higher level when compared to other potential reinforcement methods. In Experiment 1, three groups of 30 dogs each were trained to emit a novel sit and stay behavior with either the delivery of food alone, a verbal marker with food, or a clicker and food. The group that received only a primary reinforcer reached a significantly higher criterion of training than the group trained with a verbal secondary reinforcer. Performance of the group experiencing a clicker secondary reinforcer was intermediate between the other two groups, but not significantly different from either. In Experiment 2, three different groups of 25 dogs each were shaped to emit a nose targeting behavior and then perform that behavior at increasing distances from the experimenter using the same three methods of positive reinforcement used in Experiment 1. No statistically significant differences between the groups were found. Overall, the findings suggest that both clickers and other forms of positive reinforcement can be used successfully in training a dog to perform a novel behavior.
ContributorsGilchrist, Rachel (Author) / Wynne, Clive (Thesis director) / Conrad, Cheryl (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12