Testing the paired stimulus preference assessment as a predictor of reinforcer efficacy in dogs

• Main Author: Sara Mackenzie Vicars
• Other Authors: Caio Miguel, Becky Penrod, Jennifer L. Sobie
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: California State University, Sacramento 2011
• Subjects: Reinforcers; Dogs; Food preferences; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10211.9/1352

Preference and reinforcer assessment research with animals has been limited in providing a full analysis of all available methodology. The paired-stimulus (PS) preference assessment has been shown to be effective in yielding a hierarchy of preference with animal participants; however, reinforcer assessments have not been conducted in any of these studies. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate use of the single-stimulus (SS) and PS preference assessments as predictors of reinforcer effectiveness with dogs (canis lupus familiaris). The preference assessments were followed by single, concurrent, and basis 2 progressive-ratio (PR 1) reinforcement assessments to assess absolute and relative reinforcer efficacy with 12 participants. Results indicate that the PS preference assessment was able to predict preference and reinforcer efficacy. Various features of each assessment are discussed.