Sniffy- Magazine Training and Shaping

      Before beginning actual training with Despereaux, I completed virtual rat training using the Sniffy Lite software program. I spent time magazine training Sniffy and getting her to form the association between the light/sound in the box and food being delivered into the magazine. Once Sniffy knew where and when the pellet was dispensed I began to shape her to press the bar. To do this I would reinforce her first when she was in the back of the box. I then began to reinforce her rearing up in the back and then when she touched the bar. Next I would only reinforce a bar press and eventually she began to learn that a bar press dispensed a pellet. The program then took over from there and I sat back and watched Sniffy learn! It took about 30min for the program to say she was shaped and on a continuous reinforcement schedule. 

A screen shot of Sniffy in her operant box.

The cumulative record from shaping Sniffy. Each dash mark shows a pellet being dispensed. 

Cumulative record of Sniffy on an FR1 schedule.

     Once Sniffy was completing the continuous reinforcement schedule (FR1, seen above) consistently, I reloaded the program and placed her on FR2. I then proceeded to move on to FR3 and FR5 after adequate time and Sniffy had adjusted to the new schedule- about 20 min. As seen in the cumulative records below, Sniffy quickly adjusted to the increase in work for the same amount of reinforcement. 

A screen shot of the Sniffy workstation.

     By completing the training with Sniffy prior to training Despereaux, I gained more confidence and knowledge of how magazine training and shaping occur. It gave me a better insight to the importance of the first several training sessions and helped in determining the small steps to use while training Despereaux. Using a schedule rather than manually shaping was a lot easier and smoother because Sniffy immediately received the reinforcement without my added reflex time. Sniffy was easily able to adjust and the cumulative records show a consistent pattern of responses. In shaping, Sniffy started out slowly and then increased in responses as she learned, while in a schedule she responded consistently.

     After running several schedules, I placed Sniffy on extinction where she did not receive reinforcement for pressing the bar. The cumulative record below shows how she continued to press the bar, but did not receive a reward. After time, she stopped pressing the bar as often and eventually stopped entirely.

The extinction of bar pressing.