I found two wonderful youtube clips recently. I highly recommend taking the time to watch them! They are the first and second halves of a short 1980s film about the Columban Simulations. The Columban Simulations were a series of research studies where pigeons were taught to perform complicated behaviors that we usually think of as […]
I have two new rats. I’ve had them two weeks. I have a couple of books on rat care and training and I’ve been surfing the web. But really, I have no idea what I’m doing! It’s like starting all over again. How do I deliver a reinforcer? What’s the best way physically (and temporally) […]
Robert Epstein was the keynote speaker for the Art and Science of Animal Training conference this year. (Be sure to read the rest of my notes from the conference as well.) Epstein, who was the last student of B.F. Skinner, researches the creativity process and how novel behavior develops. All behavior, in some sense, is […]
I’m sick and it won’t stop raining, but wow! What a great weekend. I spent the weekend at the 2010 Art and Science of Animal Training Conference, which was hosted by ORCA, an animal training lab in the behavior analysis department at the University of North Texas. (I am still adding notes from the conference. […]
by Martin Pettitt, on Flickr I volunteer with ORCA at the Heard Museum about once a week. (ORCA is a lab in UNT’s behavior analysis department that focuses on animal training.) One project for this semester is crate training the museum’s two blue and gold macaws. During the fall and spring, Texas can have crazy […]
