The Power of Pavlov. Presented by Dr. Karolina Westlund

CEUs: PPAB 1, CCPDT 1, IAABC 1, KPA 1

Classical conditioning is important to understand for anyone interacting with animals. This session will examine and discuss practical examples of:

• The matter of order.
• Blocking.
• Overshadowing.
• Respondent extinction.
• Spontaneous recovery.
• Pre-exposure.
• Learned irrelevance.
• Latent inhibition.

In the session, the presenter will discuss how these learning mechanisms impacts animals’ emotional states, decision making and behavior – and how we can best harness them.

Level of difficulty: Advanced

About Your Presenter

      

Dr. Karolina Westlund

Prof. Karolina Westlund helps pet parents and animal professionals attain happier animals that thrive in the care of humans. She grew up pining for a kitten and pestered her parents until they finally gave in. The resulting black, green-eyed, half-Siamese cat she got for her seventh birthday became a true friend who lived to be 21 years old but was an easily startled cat who often went into hiding when there were visitors. She had grand ideas about becoming a field biologist, but instead she majored in ethology and developed a passionate interest in animal welfare as seen through a multidisciplinary lens, including behaviour analysis and affective neuroscience. She is now an associate professor of ethology at the University of Stockholm, Sweden where she mainly teaches about how behavior management can be used to improve animal welfare. She also conducts live seminars, free online webinars and masterclasses in addition to more extensive courses, as well as the occasional scientific publication on the topic of enrichment, animal training and well-being.