Respondent Conditioning – Forming the Neural Signal Episode 1

Before we start training any behaviours or play games with the puppy, neural signals that indicate the appearance of pleasurable situations shall be created. Some trainers prefer the tin clickers, some prefer verbal cues that are often monosyllabic. Through respondent learning, these unique auditory cues predict the onset of feeding and stimulate the release of dopamine, causing arousal and influences behaviour to seek out pleasurable activity (hunting to eat). Dopamine binds to dopaminergic receptors present in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex. Increased activity in the projections to the nucleus accumbens play a major role in reinforcement.