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BEIAVIORAL PROCRAU!

Cur training pathods ara based on todifiad opcraut conditioning tochniques (as proposed by E.F. Stincer) coubinsd vith inpuzs fron ethclogical, ecological and other biological disciplines.

We havs deviated frou the classical sad sonahat sinpiistic Skinperian and povlovian views bccause of out rucognition of the corplox nature aud inportance of the relationship berveea internal bioiogical mechenisus and external envircnnaatai icctors., Ve recognize even the sizplest conditionei bekavior is sctually a more or less coapiicated behsvioral chain cr sequsuce.

Our approach to situaticns jis one of enginearing desigs rather than statistical experizental research. Expcrinente tend to be of the go-zo go type, with fen subjects and vith a surject acting as its cwm controi. Requirezents for éata aro kept to a cinimuu coeaeusurate vith ansuering quescions vital to tha success of the missica. Cur enginecring design is based on progren goals, our knovledge of the anicals in questiou, the ensicipated environnsntal situation, degree of bahavioral control. required, cquipneut availatle and cost cf tine factors.

The training plau is tailored to fit the requirenanto of the engineering design. Critical aspects or probable problen areas of the proposed behavioral chain are identified and avenues of approach are initiated innediately. Ircblers ot a eriticnl nature vo try to attack on more than one front sirultaneously. The data requirements are iscludedin the training plan.

Gur trainins plan also iacludes milestones but the nilcstoues seldoa have dates attecheá. It is diffirult to predict the "building rate" of beheviors, especially unider the condizions of poor control oi environreutal fsctors such ar might occur outside the laboratory. Ttsiping is a growth process and to push ahecd en a fixod schedale vichout raintaining a fin: behaviorel baso is an uouise practics and courts lour-tern disaster.

21 Jaly 1968

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Daily training programs are constructed for esch aninal based on his previous record--particularly the prcvious day's record, but also using the carlier records of rate of progress, incidence of rcgression, health conditions, etc: Occasionally rcutine steps of progress such as incrcasing rango a certain nuuber of yards are sacrificed for increased accuracy ef discrinination, polishing certain skilled terninal bchaviors, corrfcting or cxtinguishing problem behaviors and the like.

Very little quantitacive or qualitative experinontal evidencs exists on long chains of behavior such as are involved in the present projact. There are little data available on extensibility of secondary reinforcemont over a'long tine periods of high effort tasks. The evidence available nou, hovevdr slight it nsy be, rust form the basis of our present design and we pust gather the necessary data for future engineering designs, In view of the paucity of pertinent evidence a coryain anount.of art, skill, eveluation and educated guess-vork must be used in judging how far oninals can be stretched each day, vhen new stinulus situations can be introduced and vhen behavioral links can te dropped without cisrupting the vhole chain.

SFECIFICS:

From September through December of 1967, we analysed the progran goals and requirements.

The goals vere to get the vohicle to a remote point aad back again. A simple terninal belavior may be required. The guidance systen must utilizc the capabilities of an R F Link.

In our analysis, two areas seemed to be nost critical and in need of investigation, development and selcction of guidance methods and establiching a maxizum raage capability.

We proposed sevoral approaches to the guidance pzoblen, one of which was not directly compatihle vith the R F Liak. We proposed to assess the efficacy of contintous inforation input systens aud interuittant information inputs systems as well as compere positive information cystens vich negative information systens.

Faga Iwo

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Once the system(s) of chcice had been sclected, ve proposed to gather data on range extension. Ke wcre interested inbiological factors such as attention span, physical endurance, total rauge and effcct of different reinforcsment schedules.

Onee ve had a sufficient amcunt of data to support that the system could possibly achieve the desired raage we proposed to incorporate bchaviors and atteopt to achieve maximuma range. Included at this tine also would be the cysters integration aspects.

The training protccol involves systematically incrcasing the complexity and skill level of the animal respoases under the conditions of an ezpanding and frequently changinz environeent.

le conditioned the animals to search for targets and respond to ; the targets once they found them. Ve supplied auditory cues to the animals to ail then in:their search for targets. We also attempted to train an aninal withcut the use of targets but the results in corparison to the target situation vere poor.

The auditcry cues were a continuous signal vhen the animal vas heading towards the proper target, a signal meaning turn to the left (target on left) and a signal meening turu right (target on right). These signals vere used in differsnt cosbination for different animals depending on the particular apprcach in training. The basic approaches -were: On course

、Left/Right

On course--Left/kight

Whether the guidance signals were continuoùs or intermittant was another variable in cur training schene.

The initial training is eccomplished with the relatively sterile confines of a snall pen--essentielly an oversized skinner hox!

Oace the behavior was established in the small pen we roved to a larger pen with a more complex environment and also introduced gatt training and nore extensive handling procedures.

By this method of continual environnertal and behaviorel expansicn we moved the anizals outside the conpcunds.

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The data kept durin,; nost of the training sessions were munbers of trials, positions ani range of tcrgets, numoer of correct choicec, environnental factors and occasionslly tize per trial 1

l aueber cf couree corrcetions and,cest inportantly and ad all times, a detailed rucori of behavioral observations.

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