Clicker training is an operant conditioning method for training an animal using a clicker, or small mechanical noisemaker, as a marker for behavior. The method uses positive reinforcement - it is reward based. The clicker is used during the acquisition phase of training a new behavior, to allow the animal to rapidly identify that a behavior is sought and also the precise behavior of interest.
Clicker training was originated through Marian Bailey (née Kruse) and Keller Breland, who as graduate students of psychologist and eminent behaviorist B.F. Skinner taught wild-caught pigeons to "bowl" (push a ball with their beaks) while participating in military research. According to their work, animal training was being needlessly hindered because traditional methods of praise and reward did not inform the animal of success with enough promptness and precision to create the required cognitive connections for speedy learning. Similar methods were later used in training at least 140 species including whales, bears, lions, chickens and domestic dogs and cats, and even humans (TAGteach).
A clicker is just one example of a conditioned reinforcer (secondary reinforcer) or "bridge". Technically a stimulus from any sensory mode may become a conditioned reinforcer (ex. light, smells).
Read more about Clicker Training: Co-founders, Controversy, Methodology
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