By Temple Grandin, Ph.D.From
International Camelid Quarterly Volume 5, Number 4, December 2006
Unique insights from a person with a singular understanding.
As a person with autism, it is
easy for me to understand how animals think because my thinking processes are
like an animal's. Autism is a neurological disorder that some people are born
with. Scientists who study autism believe that the disorder is caused by
immature development of certain brain circuits, and over-development of other
brain circuits. Autism is a complex disorder that ranges in severity from a
mild form (such as mine), to a very serious handicap where the child never
learns to talk. The movie Rain Man depicts a man with a fairly severe form of
the disorder.
I have no
language-based thoughts at all. My thoughts are in pictures, like videotapes in
my mind. When I recall something from my memory, I see only pictures. I used to
think everybody thought this way until I started talking to people on how they
thought. I learned that there is a whole continuum of thinking styles, from
totally visual thinkers like me to the totally verbal thinkers. Artists,
engineers, and good animal trainers are often highly visual thinkers, and
accountants, bankers, and people who trade in futures markets tend to be highly
verbal thinkers with few pictures in their minds.
Most people use
a combination of both verbal and visual skills. Several years ago, I devised a
little test to find out what style of thinking people use: Access your memory
on church steeples. Most people will see a picture of a generic
"generalized" steeple. I only see specific steeples; there is no
generalized one. Images of steeples flash through my mind like clicking quickly
through a series of slides or pictures on a computer screen. On the other hand,
highly verbal thinkers may "see" the words "church steeple"
or will "see" just a simple stick-figure steeple.
A radio station
person I talked to once said that she had no pictures at all in her mind. She
thought in emotions and words. I have observed that highly verbal people in
abstract professions, such as trading stocks or in sales, often have difficulty
understanding animals. Since they only think in words, it is difficult for them
to imagine that an animal can think. I have found that really good animal
trainers will see more detailed steeple pictures. It is clear to me that visual
thinking skills are essential to horse training, but often the visual thinkers
do not have the ability to verbalize and explain to other people what they
"see."
Associative Thinking
A horse trainer once said to me,
"Animals don't think, they just make associations." I responded to
that by saying "If making associations is not thinking, then I would have
to conclude that I do not think." People with autism and animals both
think by making visual associations. These associations are like snapshots of
events and tend to be very specific. For example, a horse might fear bearded
men when it sees one in the barn, but bearded men might be tolerated in a
riding arena. In this situation, the horse may only fear bearded men in the
barn because he may have had a bad past experience in the barn with a bearded
man.
Animals also
tend to make place-specific associations. This means that if a horse has bad
prior experiences in a barn with skylights, he may fear all barns with
skylights, but will be fine in barns with solid roofs. This is why it is so
important that an animal's first association with something new is a good
experience.
Years ago, a
scientist named N. Miller found that if a rat was shocked the first time it
entered a new passageway in a maze, it would never enter that passageway again.
The same may be true for horses. For example, if a horse falls down in a
trailer the first time he loads, he may fear all trailers. However, if he falls
down in a two-horse, side-by-side trailer the 25th time he is loaded, he may
make a more specific association. Instead of associating all trailers with a
painful or frightening experience, he is more likely to fear side-by-side
trailers, or fear a certain person associated with the "bad" trailer.
He has learned from previous experience that trailers are safe, so he is
unlikely to form a generalized trailer fear.
Fear Is the Main Emotion
Fear is the main emotion in
autism, and it is also the main emotion in prey animals such as horses and
cattle. Things that scare horses and cattle also scare children with autism.
Any little thing that looks out of place, such as a piece of paper blowing in
the wind, may cause fear. Objects that make sudden movements are the most fear
provoking. In the wild, sudden movement is feared because predators make sudden
movements.
Both animals and
people with autism are also fearful of high-pitched noises. I still have
problems with high-pitched noise. A back-up alarm on a garbage truck will cause
my heart to race if it awakens me at night. The rumble of thunder has little
effect. Prey species animals, such as cattle and horses, have sensitive ears,
and loud noise may hurt their ears. When I was a child, the sound of the school
bell ringing was like a dentist drill in my ear. A loudspeaker system at a
horse show may possibly have a similar effect on horses.
People with
autism have emotions, but they are simpler and more like the emotions of a
vigilant prey species animal. Fear is the main emotion in a prey species animal
because it motivates the animal to flee from predators. Neuroscientists have
mapped the fear circuits in an animal’s brain. When an animal forms a fear
memory, it is located in the amygdala, which is in the lower, primitive part of
the brain. J.E. LeDoux and M. Davis have discovered that fear memories cannot
be erased from the brain. This is why it is so important to prevent the formation
of fear memories associated with riding, trailering, etc.
For a horse that
has previously been fearful of trailers to overcome his fear, the higher brain
centers in the cortex have to send a fear suppression signal to the amygdala.
This is called the cortical over-ride, which is a signal that will block the
fear memory, but does not delete it. If the animal becomes anxious, the old
fear memory may pop back up because the cortex stops sending the fear
suppression signal.
Fear-based
behaviors are complex. Fear can cause a horse to flee or fight. For example,
many times when a horse kicks or bites, it is due to fear instead of
aggression. In a fear-provoking situation where a horse is prevented from
flight, he learns to fight. Dog trainers have learned that punishing a
fear-based behavior makes it worse. When a horse rears, kicks or misbehaves
during training, it may make the trainer feel angry. The trainer may mistakenly
think that the horse is angry. But the horse is much more likely to be scared.
Therefore, it is important for the trainer to be calm. An angry trainer would
be scary to the horse. There are some situations where a horse may be truly
aggressive towards people, but rearing, kicking, running off, etc., during
handling or riding is much more likely to be fear-based.
Effects of Genetics
In all animals, both genetic
factors and experience determine how an individual will behave in a fear-provoking
situation. Fearfulness is a stable characteristic of personality and
temperament in animals. Animals with high-strung, nervous temperament are
generally more fearful and form stronger fear memories than animals with calm,
placid temperament. For example, research on pigs conducted by Ted Friend and
his students at Texas A&M University showed that some pigs will habituate
to a forced non-painful procedure and others will become more and more fearful.
Pigs were put in
a tank where they had to swim for a short time. This task was initially
frightening to all of the pigs and caused their adrenaline level to go up.
Adrenaline is secreted in both people and animals when they are scared.
Over a series of
swimming trials, some pigs habituated and were no longer scared, but others
remained fearful throughout the trials. In the pigs that did not habituate,
adrenaline stayed elevated, which showed the pigs were still afraid.
It is likely
that horses would respond to different training methods in a similar manner.
Horses with calm, placid dispositions are more likely to habituate to rough
methods of handling and training compared to flighty, excitable animals. The
high-strung, spirited horse may be ruined by rough training methods because he
becomes so fearful that he fails to learn, or habituate.
On the other hand,
an animal with a calm, non-reactive nervous system will probably habituate to a
series of non-painful forced training procedures, whereas a flighty,
high-strung, nervous animal may never habituate. Horses who are constantly
swishing their tails when there are no flies present and have their heads up
are usually fearful horses. In the wild, horses put their heads up to look for
danger.
Effects of Novelty
As a creature of flight, how a
horse reacts to novel or unusual situations or new places can be used to access
his true temperament. French scientist Robert Dantzer found that sudden novelty
shoved into an animal's face can be very stressful. A horse with a high-strung,
fearful nature may be calm and well mannered when ridden at home. However, his
true temperament has been masked because he feels relaxed and safe in a
familiar environment. When he is confronted with the new sights and sounds at a
horse show, he may blow up.
It is the more
high-strung and fearful horses who have the most difficulty in novel
situations. At the show there are many unusual sights and sounds, such as
balloons and loud address systems, which are never seen or heard at home. An
animal with a nervous temperament is calm when in a familiar environment - he
has learned it is safe - but is more likely to panic when suddenly confronted
with new things.
The paradoxical
thing about novelty is that it can be extremely attractive to an animal when he
can voluntarily approach it. A piece of paper lying in the pasture may be
approached by a curious horse, but that same piece of paper lying on the riding
trail may make the horse shy. People working with horses and other animals need
to think more about how the animals perceive the situations we put them in.
The Relationship Between Training Methods and Temperament
Animals with a nervous, excitable
temperament are more fearful than animals with a calm, placid temperament.
Flighty, excitable, sensitive animals such as antelopes or Arabian horses are
more fearful of new experiences than calm, placid animals such as Hereford
cattle or Suffolk sheep. If an excitable animal is frightened during training,
it is more likely to develop a fear memory, which can interfere with future
training. An animal may become so afraid of something such as a trailer or a
squeeze chute that it may be extremely difficult to train the animal to enter
it willingly.
It is extremely
important that an animal's first experience with something new, such as a horse
trailer or a squeeze chute, be as pleasant as possible. A pleasant first
experience will help prevent the formation of a fear memory. This is especially
important with nervous, excitable animals.
Animals with a
calm, placid temperament will habituate if they are repeatedly made to enter a
NON-PAINFUL restraint device. Their cortisol (stress hormone) levels will
decline after repeated trials of non-painful restraint.
However, the
flighty, excitable animal may never habituate. It may become increasingly
fearful and more stressed with successive trials. Fear is a very strong
stressor.
Horses with a
calm, placid temperament can be broken to ride by somewhat forceful methods
where they are tied up and have rags and other objects placed on them. The
calm, placid animal will habituate as long as no part of the procedure is
painful. Animals with a calm temperament learn that what they are being asked
to do does not hurt, and gradually get over their initial fear. Animals DO NOT
habituate to painful procedures.
The same
training method may ruin a sensitive, high-strung animal by causing permanent
fear memories. Instead of habituating, the animal becomes increasingly more
fearful. The situation becomes so scary for the animal, it can not overcome its
fear.
In flighty,
excitable animals, many problems that occur during training are due to fear. In
calm, placid animals, fear can also interfere with training, but it is less
likely to be the sole cause of a training problem.
All animals are
fearful of novel situations. Recognizing fear, working calmly and persistently,
and never allowing an animal to become so scared that it panics and hurts
itself and/or others is the responsibility of everyone who trains animals on
any level.
About the Author
Temple Grandin is an
associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University. She is the
author of the books Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation.
Television appearances include 20/20, CBS This Morning, and 48 Hours. Dr.
Grandin has autism, and her experiences have helped her to understand animal
behavior. She teaches a course in livestock handling at the university and
consults on the design of livestock handling facilities. Dr. Grandin does not
accept e-mail correspondence but may be contacted via: CherylMiller@ColoState.edu.
Eric
Hoffman, in his book, The Complete Alpaca Book, writes: “Understanding how
alpacas communicate is both entertaining and an extremely valuable management
tool. After 6000 years of domestication, alpaca behavior has been modified by
human management and breeding, but communication among alpacas is still rooted
in their ancestral past. A look at behavioral research gives us insight into the
amazingly broad repertoire of communication alpacas have inherited.” (2nd
edition, pg. 33)
