09/10/2024
I asked Dr Steven Peters (author of Evidence-Based Horsemanship) to break down the difference between desensitizing, flooding, extinction, and habituation. Here was his response. Thank you Steve.
Hi,
You are correct in that people use these terms without a real understanding and they mean different things in Learning Theory, Psychology and Biology.
But lets look at them in general terms.
Habituation in regards to Neuroscience basically means that you get a decrease in the strength of the signal (amplitude and frequency so that the sensory neurons still fire but at lesser strength. For example if I keep my leg heavy on my horse, I will have to wait to replenish the amount of neurotransmitter that will get depleted by constant firing of the neuron
Extinction (in psychology), is where you eliminate the behavior when you quit reinforcing it. For example, if I keep putting coins in the slot machine but it never pays back. I will eventually quit putting coins in (extinction).
Desensitization is another term that can be cloudy in the horse world. But it is a generally titrated process that diminishes sympathetic arousal with repeated exposure under low pressure.
Flooding is another psychological term (sometimes referred to as implosion therapy), but it is dangerous and rarely used. The subject (animal or human) is exposed to fearful stimuli with no escape. This often causes extreme panic and can result in checking out, dissociation, and learned helplessness. An example would be locking you in a room with snakes to overcome a fear of snakes.
I will add you cant desensitize a horse to every plastic bag, flag or tarp. But helping them to learn to down regulate is another deal.
Thought this was interesting...
