{"pk":61639,"title":"The Influence of Reinforcement on Aspects of Killer Whale Innovation under Stimulus Control","subtitle":null,"abstract":"<p>Creativity research suggests that creative output can be influenced by extrinsic rewards. Through reinforcement, individual killer whales were trained to produce varied behaviors to a particular cue. The purpose of this study was to opportunistically assess whether or not testing protocols, which varied in reinforcement schedules across four killer whales, influenced the outcomes of four measured constructs of creativity (Fluency, Flexibility, Elaboration, Originality) during the innovate task while under stimulus control. Of the four killer whales, one animal experienced a continuous reinforcement schedule for all test sessions, one experienced a variable reinforcement schedule for all test sessions, and two experienced two types of reinforcement schedules (6 sessions of continuous reinforcement followed by 6 sessions of variable reinforcement). Results suggested that both individuality and reinforcement schedule may have influenced the expression of selected behaviors for some constructs. A prospective study on the influence of reinforcement schedule during testing with larger samples would facilitate a clearer understanding of the mechanisms that influence the different outcomes of creative behavioral expressions. More importantly though, participation in cognitive tasks enables animals to engage in flexible thinking while actively controlling their behavioral choices during interactions with humans, thereby augmenting animal well-being in a positive way. </p>","language":"eng","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\r\n\r\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"killer whale"},{"word":"creativity"},{"word":"innovate"},{"word":"intrinsic and extrinsic rewards"},{"word":"Reinforcement"}],"section":"Research Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8358s8xz","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Kathleen","middle_name":"M","last_name":"Dudzinski","name_suffix":"","institution":"Other","department":""},{"first_name":"Myriam","middle_name":"","last_name":"Weiss","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""},{"first_name":"Isabelle","middle_name":"","last_name":"Brasseur","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""},{"first_name":"Irene","middle_name":"","last_name":"Sandoval","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""},{"first_name":"Carmen","middle_name":"","last_name":"Garcia","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""},{"first_name":"Heather","middle_name":"M.","last_name":"Hill","name_suffix":"","institution":"St. Mary's University","department":""}],"date_submitted":"2025-12-13T20:59:55.434000Z","date_accepted":"2026-04-01T22:07:00.300704Z","date_published":"2026-05-08T12:59:00Z","render_galley":{"label":"Dudzinski_Final","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uclapsych_ijcp/article/61639/galley/50240/download/"},"galleys":[{"label":"Dudzinski_Final","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uclapsych_ijcp/article/61639/galley/50240/download/"}]}