Learning Processes
How cats experience their environment, including how they perceive and interact with their surroundings, results in emotional responses that lead to behavioral changes. These observable behavioral changes are associated with anatomical and physiological changes, primarily in the brain. These behavioral and organic processes constitute learning.
Cats are always learning, even when they appear inactive. Simply being exposed to an environment in which stimuli keep presenting will result in learning.
Non-associative Learning
Learning that does not require an association between events or stimuli is called non-associative learning.
- Cats exposed to a perceived safe and irrelevant stimulus will get used to (or habituated to) it and ignore it. If something is perceived as threatening and potentially dangerous, they will become more fearful-anxious (or sensitized) around it. This type of learning does not require an association between events or stimuli.
- It is a very important form of learning, especially in very young cats, because it determines what stimuli a cat will react to (or ignore) in its environment.
- For example, a cat exposed to loud household noises—such as a vacuum—early in life may be less likely to develop an intense fear-anxiety of them later on.
Associative Learning
Cats also learn from the association of specific events or stimuli. In many cases, these events or stimuli occur naturally and do not require voluntary action from the cat.
Classical Conditioning
From the Chairs: The second bullet is very long – could we break it into more bullets or maybe adapt into some kind of infographic?
- Occurs when cats form an association between specific stimuli. In many cases, these events or stimuli occur naturally and do not require voluntary action from the animal.
- For example, a cat will spontaneously have a negative or protective emotional response to painful stimuli. If a specific painful stimulus, for example, being pinched by a needle, is always preceded by the sight of the needle itself, the simple sight of the needle will soon trigger the same protective response that the pinch used to trigger. If the veterinarian is part of the picture, a cat may also develop a protective emotional response to their sight. This learning process is called associative learning via classical conditioning.
Operant Conditioning
From Chairs: Please review this section. As discussed during our call, we do not want to confuse veterinarians by talking about punishment as we do not want cats punished.
This type of learning is mainly associated with training. In this learning process, cats associate their voluntary actions with the consequences.
- Desired consequence → behavior frequency increases (Reinforcement)
- Undesired consequence → behavior frequency decreases (Punishment)
When the consequence is the addition of a stimulus, the reinforcement or punishment is positive. If the consequence is the removal of a stimulus, the reinforcement or punishment is negative (see Table 1).
- Positive Reinforcement: Adding something pleasant for the cat (e.g., giving a treat when a cat sits for us; they will be more likely to sit in the future due to positive reinforcement). Positive reinforcement training should always be the first choice in training.
| Behavior | Desired Stimulus | Undesired Stimulus |
|---|---|---|
| Increased frequency REINFORCEMENT |
Add: POSITIVE R. Treat given to cat when sits, by which the behavior is rewarded and reinforced |
Remove: NEGATIVE R. Difficult to do unless you understand the cat (e.g., moving away from the cat if he or she is fearful or anxious) |
| Decreased frequency PUNISHMENT |
Remove: NEGATIVE P. For example, removing attention if a cat bites toes can lead to frustration. Instead, redirect the biting behavior to a toy. Prevent the behavior with adequate play time and reward interactive play. This type of training is NOT recommended. |
Add: POSITIVE P. Squirting with water, impairing feline welfare and learning and the human-cat bond. This type of training is NOT recommended. |
Table 1: Different types of operant conditioning resulting from the addition or removal of a stimulus leading to an increased or decreased occurrence of a behavior.
Engaging (Positive) Emotions
From Staff: The term “animal” was edited to “cat” throughout this page. Please advise if this line edit in this section still makes the statement true.
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Engaging emotions like desire-seeking lead to:
- Predatory behavior
- Seeking food, water, and shelter
- Seeking pleasure, comfort +/- social interactions
- Reward-based or positive reinforcement training
- It also leads to optimism (yes, it has been proven that cats can be optimists or pessimists!), associated with increased activity of brain regions in the reward-seeking system.
- The activation of this system is highly motivating for cats and contrasts with the activation of the stress response and its associated negative emotions.
- Cats trained with methods that elicit engaging emotions have improved welfare, and demonstrate more willingness to engage and cooperate, including in veterinary procedures.
- Eliciting engaging emotions through positive reinforcement training usually leads to better outcomes behaviorally and physically than cats who are frequently exposed to aversive stimuli.
Protective Emotions
- Fear-anxiety, pain, and frustration are protective emotions that a cat can experience when facing an aversive stimulus, activating the limbic system in the brain, which triggers the biological stress response.
- In natural conditions, an animal experiencing these emotions would avoid or repel the aversive stimulus or succumb to it. Therefore, the activation of the stress response is adaptive and short-lived in natural conditions.
- Indoor cats, like our domestic cats, cannot always avoid or remove aversive stimuli as they have limited control of their environment. Their stress response, associated with protective emotions, can remain activated for a long time and cause chronic distress, which is maladaptive and highly detrimental to their physical and behavioral health.
- Aversive stimuli (commonly, but not always appropriately, called punishment and corrections) should be avoided when handling or training cats is essential because they may perpetuate stress and hinder training.
Stress Response
The activation of the stress response through the limbic system is (from an evolutionary standpoint) a life-saving response that prevails over other biological responses, including the reward-seeking response.
- Fear-anxiety is, in fact, the emotion that allowed ancestral cats to stay away from danger, survive, and evolve. A fearful or anxious cat will learn protective behaviors very quickly but will not be able to focus on complex positive associations acquired via operant conditioning, as the take-over of the limbic system will inhibit its reward-seeking system activity.
- For this reason, a distressed or fearful-anxious cat will be more resistant to training and may refuse even the most enticing treat. A cat displaying engaging emotions will instead be easier to train and will be more collaborative.
A Healthy Cat is a Better Learner
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Physical Examination First
- When a cat shows difficulties in learning or demonstrates stress-related behaviors, the first step is a thorough physical exam to investigate how the cat’s physical health affects their behavioral health. (From the Chairs: Prevention would be even better, having a physical examination to ensure physical health before starting to train a cat.)
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Impact of Behavioral Health
- Poor behavioral health (e.g., chronic stress, fear-anxiety, or defensive aggression) can affect learning, training, and collaborative handling.
- Learning involves both behavioral and physical changes, and there is growing evidence of the influence physical health has on learning.
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Sickness Behavior
- Illness exerts a depressive effect on the brain; a sick cat is stressed, and a stressed cat is not a good learner.
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Immune/Inflammatory Response
- Traditionally associated with physical signs such as fever, these changes also affect behavior and cognition.
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Mediators of inflammation (e.g., cytokines) can pass through the blood-brain barrier and trigger behavior changes without causing tissue damage in the brain.
- For instance, cats with low-grade chronic inflammation typical of aging may show altered interactions with humans in challenging situations, such as when interacting with the cat at home or in the veterinary practice.
The Impact of Pain
- Pain is a psychophysical experience: Pain is both a protective emotion and a physical sensation, involving nociception (the perception of a noxious stimulus) and the resulting emotion of suffering. Both activate the stress response.
- Behavioral signs of pain mirror signs of stress: Pain’s inflammatory component can directly affect how the brain regulates behavior.
- Pain assessment is essential: Assess for pain whenever a cat shows unexpected changes or difficulties in learning. Please refer to the FelineVMA Chronic Pain Toolkit for further information.
Role of the Microbiota and Immune/Inflammatory Response
From Chairs: This entire section may need to be condensed or simplified.
- An additional layer of complexity is added by the role that the bacterial microbiota of the gut and the skin plays in regulating the metabolic and immune/inflammatory response and, therefore, the physical and behavioral health of a cat.
- A diverse and balanced microbiome has been associated with better behavioral and physical health in different species.
- Dysbiosis with an increase of clades that produce pro-inflammatory mediators or a decline in clades producing precursors of neurotransmitters associated with desirable behaviors can cause behavioral and cognitive alterations.
- It has been shown that cats with chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal or skin disease show more anxious and et-epimeletic (care soliciting) behaviors.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Continuous Learning: Cats are always learning through non-associative and associative processes.
- Emotional State Matters: Chronic distress, such as fear or anxiety, can overshadow positive reinforcement and hinder learning.
- Physical Health Counts: Chronic pain, inflammation, or illness can diminish a cat’s ability to learn. Veterinary assessment is crucial.
- Positive Training Wins: Reward-based methods encourage better cooperation, enhance well-being, and improve learning outcomes.
- Punishment: Punishment-based training is never recommended.