by Mona » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:32 pm
Hi Michael:
As far as secondary reinforcers go....I know that you use a clicker but I also use verbal secondary reinforcers.
The advantage to using a verbal is that it can be varied. For example, you can have a secondary reinforcer of "do better". The bird knows to go back and redo the behavior.....
Or you can have a secondary reinforcer of "keep going". The bird knows to go to a second step in the training sequence rather than stop the sequence.
I think the biggest factors for establishing strong secondary reinforcers are 1) the integrity of the reinforcer needs to be solid and 2) Consistency.
In training, there is a point where a secondary reinforcer does become a primary reinforcer. The animal will perform a behavior for what we think of as a "secondary reinforcer". I think the advantage to using a verbal is that the animal learns to differentiate different verbal "secondary reinforcers"....and you are on your way to training language.
Thanks!
Mona
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