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This week, Upper School students in Ms. Zeigler’s Psychology of Learning elective studied classical conditioning and operant conditioning. To help illustrate the differences between the two, Lewisboro police officer Andrew Llewellyn visited class with his K9 companion Zane.
Officer Llewellyn explained the role both types of conditioning played in the process of Zane’s early training through imprinting and shaping, as well as what he does consistently daily to keep up Zane’s advanced training.
Classical conditioning is an unconscious learning method in which an automatic conditioned response is paired with a specific stimuli. Operant conditioning is a method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior, creating an association between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior.
Students enjoyed meeting Zane and described him as “playful and friendly” when he is off duty. When Zane is on duty with the K9 unit of the Lewisboro Police Department, he is all business and a great asset to his human officers.