Many years ago I wrote my masters thesis. The title was “Memorize and Perish”. The basic philosophy behind this expression is when memorization becomes the foundation for learning, the skill of thinking is negatively impacted. The sheer magnitude of memorization (this is the way things are) inhibits brainstorming. Critical thinking is stifled.
Another important aspect of critical thinking is taking advantage of how the human mind/brain functions. The ability to think and reason is often impacted by how much stimulation is taking place. The timing of different brain waves is critical. In laymen terms, thinking functions are more effective when you have not been over stimulated. The best time to “get across an idea” (explain something and/or teach) is in the first five minutes of the effort. The subject mind/brain is more receptive. On a side note, my dogs are often taught “new things” near the beginning of a training day.
However, one must always remember that dogs do not think like humans (but that is another topic....or is it?).
Now you might wonder where this is going. Therefore, to clarify. I slept on the thoughts of this thread. My thinking was going nowhere last night. As is my routine (which was discovered many years ago) I gradually woke up this morning with an uncluttered, clear mind. The manner in which to contrast and compare the reward/punishment conflict created by this thread was quickly clarified (for me).
See if this is “reasonable”. Take a simple situation where indirect pressure works - the mouthing dog at the handler's side. The dog has heeled properly and sits without any verbal command. The dog's OB in this respect is “solid”. The word “solid” means the same thing as “excellent conditioned responses”. However, the dog begins to mouth/roll the bumper and the trainer does “sit/stick/sit” and he stops. This is classic and simple indirect pressure.
Most can describe the situation with anecdotal observations – the dog is “glassy eyed”, apparently unaware of his behavior, does it more when excited or “amped” and the ever popular doesn't know I'm even there. Some say it is a subconscious behavior. The general consensus is indirect pressure works (often). It seems that the difficult part (in this thread) is explaining why.
Apparently (and I use this word because I presently don't understand the explanations), the “stick” enforces sit and punishes mouthing. Here is my first question from this morning's moment of clarification. Are punishing, extinguishing, distracting, re-focusing and/or becoming more responsive all the same thing?
My second question is, since mouthing is more of a subconscious behavior (conjecture on my part), the dog does not actually think “I need to stop mouthing” and stops doing it because with sufficient reps the behavior is sub-consciously extinguished and/or punished enough?
In comparison, my training has been greatly influenced by the term balance. The dog that mouths is out of balance. How so? because he is not responsive/focused.....enough. I can see it. The dog is not paying attention to me and locked into his own somewhat compulsive behaviors. This is probably because I have given him too much to handle and poor coping skills allow him to manage this induced anxiety.
Rather than thinking that indirect pressure has punished the behavior, my “sit/stick/sit” application refocuses the dog in the area of responsiveness. If he learns to and/or is conditioned to pay more attention to me (enhanced responsiveness), his need to develop poor coping skills for his apparent anxiety is reduced. In essence, I don't think in terms of Pablov and/or Skinner terminology. It is more of “what you see is what you get” kind of thing as opposed to “what you see is not what you get”.
Which brings me to the present linguistic impedance. Does punishing “mouthing” indirectly while enforcing sit directly mean the same thing as “Good! You are sitting, but clear your mind and pay more attention to me?” Am I enforcing two things “sit” and “pay attention” and not really punishing anything?
OK, now I've reached the point of “cluttered thinking” which is the cue to stop (brain waves need resetting plus my dogs need to “air”).