Understanding the Neuroscience of Arousal and Attention with Simon Gadbois, PhD
This webinar session was broadcast as part of the Brain Train event – November 2025
Use the membership discount code you can find in your member area
On-Demand Webinar: Watch as soon as you register
Webinar Description
In order to learn, you need first to pay attention. Similarly, in order to be efficient in your social interactions, you need to pay attention.
Attention (a cognitive construct) and arousal (a physiological construct) are terms often thrown around without much discernment. There is a whole psychology and neuroscience of attention and arousal, with some overlap.
We will explore the different kinds of attention, and how they are relevant to learning, as well as performance in working dogs (or dogs involved in canine sports). We will discuss the similarities and differences between those concepts and other familiar ones: Stress (distress and eustress), anxiety, anguish, fear, phobia, etc. We will also see how these concepts have made their way into animal learning (conditioning) and work performance. Finally, we will discuss how the clicker can be used as an “attention grabber” following some very well-known theories of classical conditioning.
Your Presenter – Simon Gadbois, PhD
Dr. Simon Gadbois is a researcher in animal behavior and animal learning and psychophysics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. He integrates biology (ethology), experimental animal psychology (psychophysics and learning), and neuroscience within a post-cognitivist perspective. A generalist, he has studied olfaction, learning/memory and social behavior in species of mollusks (slugs and snails), fish (three species), reptiles (three species), birds (pigeons) and mammals (rats, dogs, red foxes, coyotes and wolves).
He has studied Canids for 30 years and established the Canid and Reptile Behaviour and Olfaction lab at Dalhousie in 2006. His research on wild canids was focused on natural action sequences and social endocrinology. His current research on domestic dogs is mostly on applications of olfactory processing, including medical alert dogs and wildlife conservation canines.
PPG Members
PPG Members, use your Member Webinar discount coupon code at registration to access your membership rate. The code can be found in your membership area.
Not yet a member? Click here to join and begin receiving discounts on PPG member events.
Bookings
Log in if you already have an account with us.