Training Sniffy, The virtual rat

The goal of this task was to become prepared to train our live rat by first training a rat on a computer software called "Sniffy".  The first step was to magazine train sniffy, or classically condition the rat to the sound and the appearance of food. This prepared Sniffy to be shaped to press the bar and eventually put him on a training schedule.

Here is Sniffy, the computer program!

After Sniffy developed an association between the sound of the bar and the dispensing of food, I then began shaping Sniffy. This consisted of gradually reinforcing behaviors that resembled bar pressing, and eventually only rewarding for rearing up at the back wall by the dispenser. Soon enough, Sniffy started rearing more often right at the bar and would sometimes accidentally press the bar. For each time after that, the only time Sniffy received reinforcement was after a bar press. Sniffy soon caught on and would press the bar multiple times in a row.

When Sniffy was shaped, I switched him to a Variable Ratio schedule of 5. This means that sniffy only received reinforcement after a certain measured amount of behavior, such as a varied ratio of 5 bar presses. After I put the rat on the schedule, I noticed that the bar pressing was much more rapid and almost aggressive.

I then continued with extinction, or making sniffy forget the training. This means that the rat received no reinforcement at all after a bar press. He showed a very rapid extinction burst, he would press the bar very rapidly trying to get to food, up to 200 presses per minute. This lasted for about 5 minutes. Eventually, the training became extinct and sniffy no longer pressed the bar more than he did previous to the training.

I started and finished all of this training within 3 hours! I used the computer programs setting where you can "speed up time" to increase shaping behaviors, instead of waiting in real time.

After using this program I feel much more confident in training my live rat. I will probably practice with the program a few more times to gain some more confidence, and get more used to proper shaping techniques, but I feel I am ready to go live!

My first training day is today with my live rat, whose name I decided is Jubilee (Jubes), just because! (I really needed a name, so I decided to go with the most entertaining one.)