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How to Protect Against Fearful Associations
I recently watched an interesting webinar and one of the topics was about latent inhibition. I kind of hate the fussy terms associated with our training and behavior work because they often seem so “science-y” and unapproachable. But this topic is worth a second look.
Latent inhibition falls under the umbrella of classical conditioning. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:
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A dog is exposed to a thing, like a sound, a novel environment, or an object.
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The experience feels neutral to the dog.
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The experience is repeated a number of times.
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The result: the dog will begin to notice the thing less, basically tuning it out as harmless or irrelevant. Then, in the future, the dog will have a harder time making a new association with the thing.
Let me give you an example. Say you just acquired a new puppy who has not yet learned that going to the vet’s office can be scary or even a little painful. What if you begin with a bunch of exposures to the vet’s office at a quiet time in their schedule, where only neutral things happen? You go in with your puppy who sniffs around the exam room and observes staff members who do nothing ouchy to them. Then, a bit down the road when the puppy does need to go in for a real visit, where something ouchy can happen (like a vaccine), the puppy will make a much weaker association between the vet’s office and the ouchy event. You are actually helping to reduce the puppy’s fear response.
Can you think of other examples where this could work in your favor?
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