Addictive Activities

[corvus]

This week Erik has been helping me do my PhD by being my first experimental subject. The task involves touching a target to trigger the delivery of a lactose-free milk reward. The first phase is learning to touch the target, the second to touch it only on cue, and the third to discriminate between a cue that means milk and a cue that means water instead. We are up to the third phase after 3 days of training. Erik only gets to interact with the dog training apparatus once a day for 30 minutes. As the phases have progressed, he has experienced a little frustration here and there, but has ultimately come back more and more eager to play the training game. The funny thing is, when he's actually training his tail goes down and he gets quite relaxed and calm. Every 5 minutes he gets a 3 minute break, which he spends trying to convince me to let him get back to the machine.

I am fascinated by what the process does to him. The training is pretty boring in comparison to what I do with him. Every time he hears a cue, there's only a 50% chance he'll get rewarded, and then he has to wait an agonising 30 seconds before he gets another cue. But still there is the compulsion to interact with the apparatus. The only thing it registers is a nose touch, but it's like Erik just can't resist it. It's not an exciting activity, but he seems to find it somewhat addictive anyway. It makes me think of Panksepp's SEEK mode. I think that's what makes it so attractive to Erik. I wonder if it's a bit like browsing through a text book that keeps giving you little gems of information that connect other things you already knew. I wonder if Erik is drawn on by the process of learning as well as the compulsion of a variable reward schedule.

I am guessing tracking is really tapping that SEEK mode as well. Steven Lindsay was talking about how inherently rewarding it could be. Clicker training I think also heavily taps the SEEK mode, as Karen Pryor confirms in her recent book. What kinds of activities do your dogs find addictive?

[Staff'n'Toller]

What apparatus are you using?

[RuralPug]

Mine find the getting of and eating of food addictive activities.

ROFL

Sorry, couldn't resist. Not helpful I know.

[aussielover]

sounds like a doggie poker machine lol

my dog also finds eating addictive RP!!!

[Vickie]

I don't think dogs are capable of addiction

[corvus]

I don't think dogs are capable of addiction

Oh really? Mice are.

I'm not sure what you would count as addiction. I think a lot of behaviours have an addictive or compulsive quality. I'm a fan of the opponent-process theory, which is the idea that emotions tend to surface in pairs that oppose each other, like pleasure and pain. When one is up the other is down. It's considered one of the possible explanations for addiction. The effects of an addictive substance become less as time goes on, and the withdrawal symptoms become stronger in response. Anyway, I was watching Erik work and I was thinking how he seemed quite comfortable with interacting with the apparatus, but when he was on his break, he was a bit restless and wanted to get back to it, but when he got back to it, it was like a relief rather than a joy. The more he works at it the stronger the appearance of relief when he gets back to it. Puts me in mind of an opponent-process, hence why I say addictive. It's like the waiting is an A process of an opponent-process, the fast and hard emotion, and the sense of relief afterwards when he gets back to it is a B process, the slow and long one. Although maybe any sense of anticipation creates the same see-saw of tense waiting and relief.

SnT it's a kind of an auto-shaper for nosing. They don't actually have to touch anything with their nose as the reward is triggered by crossing a photointerruptor, like a burglar alarm or door chime at a shop. They have a visual target to aim for, though. We've been making it for the past month. It's extremely cool! I have photos somewhere...

[Staff'n'Toller]

Oh ok.

I've used a treat n train and my dogs are quite mesmerised by it. Will sit in front of it for ages even if it's not dishing out any reinforcement.

[raineth]

Oooh I would love photos - or maybe even a video of it!!!

What will you do if he is actually addicted to it?

[corvus]

I've been videoing his progress. Perhaps I'll post it.

At the moment it's gone to someone else, so it's not in the house. I think that the compulsion to interact with it is the same thing as the enjoyment in training. Erik seems to be a wee bit obsessed with cause and effect. If he hasn't had enough mental stimulation he starts walking around the house poking things. He is particularly drawn to tall things that wobble when he pokes them. It's like he is just looking to make something happen. He sometimes tries just standing there and barking at one of us until we do something. He doesn't really care what. I think this need to make something happen is Erik in SEEK mode, which Panksepp says is an emotional state for all mammals.

So, the short answer is, he probably is addicted to it because he is particularly needy for SEEK mode and I think he's already addicted to that. You should see him if he hasn't had any training in a few days. He is impossible. But it doesn't matter because it's the mode he likes so much and there are lots of things we can do with him to address that need. Clicker training is his preference. He is nuts for clicker training. He also loves puzzle toys. If we don't provide him with something he finds his own ways to fill that need. Like poking things or randomly demanding to be let out so he can do a small wee and collect a reward for it.

[persephone]

If we don't provide him with something he finds his own ways to fill that need. Like poking things or randomly demanding to be let out so he can do a small wee and collect a reward for it.

yep.I know quite a few animals like that

[Erny]

He is particularly drawn to tall things that wobble when he pokes them. It's like he is just looking to make something happen.

Have one of them here. Sometimes it is to elicit interaction. Sometimes it is initially just exploratory. He just loves using his nose to poke things. Which is why it was so easy to shape "close the cupboard please".

Edited December 26, 2010 by Erny