There is a cat at home named Mimi. Silly and foolish, she spends her days eating and sleeping, being lazy and not studying, and she doesn't even know how to meow. Perhaps because she can't meow, she has a strong sense of inferiority and a very negative attitude towards life, gradually becoming overweight. To help a little kitten who can't meow face life positively, we decided to use pet communication buttons to replace meowing, allowing Mimi to learn to "speak."
Experimental Principle Teaching Philosophy#
Inspired by the dog Bunny and a cat called Fufu on Bilibili, who can express their needs using different buttons, we plan to use the same method to train the kitten to express her current needs through different sounds made by pressing different buttons, such as "eat," "open door," "cuddle," etc.
The basic principle of the entire learning process is conditioned reflex. Conditioned reflex is divided into classical conditioning and operant conditioning. The most famous example of classical conditioning is Pavlov's dogs. Before giving food, a bell is rung, and after repeated exposure, the dog learns to associate the bell (conditioned stimulus) with the reward (food). Operant conditioning was first proposed by behaviorist B.F. Skinner, where experimental mice in a Skinner box (a box with a lever) need to establish a connection between pressing the lever (action) and receiving a reward (food). Operant conditioning links active behavior with rewards, while classical conditioning links passive stimuli (the sound of the bell) with rewards, making the learning process simpler. Additionally, the time interval between the conditioned stimulus (pressing the lever/bell) and the unconditioned stimulus (receiving food) is crucial; the shorter the interval, the easier it is to establish a connection.
In the current case, we need to help the kitten establish a connection between different buttons and different feedback, which is itself an operant conditioning. However, in her past experiences, the kitten has already associated other behaviors (like kicking the food bowl) with receiving cat food, so we need to consider extinguishing that connection. Moreover, the kitten's living environment is different from the mice in the Skinner box; the box environment is simple, making it easy to explore the lever. In contrast, the kitten's environment is rich, and helping her understand the connection between the voice buttons and eating may require some guidance to enhance the learning rate. Finally, to improve the learning rate, we can consider establishing classical conditioning first, where a person presses the button and then gives food, gradually transitioning to operant conditioning, allowing the kitten to press the button herself to receive rewards.
Experimental Preparation Teaching Preparation#
- Pet communication buttons. Purchased from Taobao, considering that we will add different communication content later, we bought four recordable buttons at once, averaging over 20 RMB each.
- We initially used two buttons, with the yellow recording for "eat" and the blue recording for "open door."
Experimental Animal Teaching Object#
- A lazy and gluttonous cat named Mimi
Experimental Results Teaching Progress#
The following line graph shows Mimi's learning curve.
For the first 7 days, except for one accidental press of the "open door" button, she did not actively press the pet communication buttons. By the 8th day, the kitten noticed the buttons, and on the 9th day, she actively tried to press the buttons. Once the kitten noticed and understood that pressing the button could yield feedback, she pressed the button over 40 times a day, entering a rapid learning phase, even learning the new "cuddle" button in a very short time.
Phase One: Extinguishing Previous Behavior Patterns and Establishing Classical Conditioning#
Place the "eat" button near the food bowl and the "open door" button near the bedroom door (if you want to keep it simple, you can start with just one button).
Teaching Key Points for "Eat"#
The core of this phase is to immediately give the kitten cat food after the parent actively presses the button, training the kitten to associate the button's "eat" sound with receiving cat food.
Extinguishing old behavior patterns. My kitten used to paw at the food bowl when hungry, but once formal learning begins, the parent must resolutely ignore this request. After some time, the kitten will understand that pawing at the food bowl no longer attracts the parent's attention, extinguishing the connection between the two, leading her to explore other methods, at which point she may notice the buttons we placed in advance.
Keep the kitten in a slightly hungry state to maintain a high level of motivation. I feed my cat twice a day, and when we started formal teaching, we reduced her daytime food to 1/3 of the usual amount to facilitate one-on-one guidance at night.
Small amounts frequently. When I return home in the evening, my kitten will want to paw at the food bowl for food. At this time, ignore her, and when she gets tired of pawing at the bowl, I will actively press the "eat" button and immediately add a very small amount of cat food. I will repeat pressing the button multiple times throughout the evening, with intervals of about one to two minutes, to reinforce the learning effect.
Try to shorten the interval between the button sound and feeding. Before pressing the button, I secretly grab a small handful of cat food in my hand, and after each button press, I immediately add a little cat food, trying to add food as quickly as possible after the button sounds.
Teaching "Open Door"#
The idea is the same as "eat." When outside the bedroom, place the button outside the door, and after we actively press the button to open the door, we can enter, training the kitten's conditioned reflex.
When both the person and the kitten are inside the bedroom, move the button inside the bedroom, and we need to press the button before going out or wanting to let the kitten out.
Phase Two: Gradually Establishing Operant Conditioning#
After several days of learning (in my case, 3 to 4 days later), I found that the kitten would respond to the sounds made by the buttons, so we began to enter the next phase of learning.
Advanced "Eat" Teaching#
In this phase, we need to be more "tough" and patient.
Continue to keep the kitten in a slightly hungry state. During teaching time, the parent does not need to actively press the button; the anxious kitten will explore around, and in the process of bumping into things, she may accidentally trigger the button. The parent only needs to wait until the kitten accidentally presses the button and produces the "eat" sound, then immediately give a food reward. After repeated reinforcement training, the kitten will gradually establish a connection between pressing the button and receiving food rewards.
The duration of this phase can vary; parents should not be too anxious. If the kitten does not actively press the button during the teaching process, we can choose to extend the previous phase's duration, or we can guide the kitten to press the button. My approach was to take the kitten's paw to press the button, making her aware of the button's existence. This process lasted for 6 days, and on the 9th day, the kitten finally began to consciously press the button.
To teach the kitten to "speak" faster, we can also reward her with cat treats when she presses the button.
If the goal is not to teach the kitten to "speak" in a short time, more laid-back parents can ignore the earlier "hunger teaching" and just ensure that they can promptly reward the kitten with treats (cat treats work better) after she presses the button; with time, she will learn.
Advanced "Open Door" Teaching#
The overall idea is similar to the teaching of "eat," needing to guide the kitten to actively press the button and provide timely feedback for opening the door. To speed up the teaching process, I cleared away items near the door, leaving only one button. The kitten wanting to go in and out will, after failing to scratch the door, turn to paw at surrounding items to attract the parent's attention, at which point she may press the "open door" button.
Phase Three: Strengthening the Differentiation of Conditioned Reflexes#
As the kitten learns multiple buttons, she may confuse the feedback corresponding to each button. Alternatively, the kitten may simply understand pressing the button as a way to attract the parent's attention. To reinforce the function of each button, what parents need to do is simple: provide the appropriate feedback for each button and avoid confusion. For example, if you can clearly see that the kitten wants food but mistakenly presses the "open door" button, the parent should not give in; wait until she presses the correct button before providing a reward. After some time, the kitten will naturally distinguish the functions of each button.
Experimental Summary Teaching Summary#
The core of the entire process is to establish the connection between pressing the button and feedback. Parents just need to know to provide the correct feedback promptly after their pet presses the button; the little ones will eventually learn the skill of "speaking."
PS
I am not a professional pet trainer; this article is based on methods summarized from learning and memory-related content and my usual experiments, not a professional pet training article. Parents should consider their own pets' situations when referring to the article's content. If there are any inaccuracies or better suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below.
I hope everyone can get along well with their pets and have more interaction and fun in daily life.
Finally, here is a small video from the learning process.
Teaching the Kitten to "Speak" in Nine Days — Mimi's Learning Journey originally published on Jack's Space