Differences Between Despereaux and Sniffy

     Both Despereaux and Sniffy had several things in common even though one was alive and the other was virtual. Des and Sniffy were both highly capable of learning and responded similarly to the various schedules. Magazine training and shaping were different in each, but the FR schedules were quit similar. Extinction was also a similar experience, although it did not take as long for Sniffy's behavior to become extinct as it did for Despereaux.

    Magazine training was much easier in the Sniffy program than with Despereaux. I do not know if it was just because of the box problems we had in the beginning, but Des took several days of training to even realize the association of the sound/light with food in the magazine.

     I found it much harder to shape Despereaux than Sniffy. Sniffy did not get as distracted or take up so much time with grooming as Des did, and it was much more difficult to keep Despereaux on task. Sniffy was also set to do each step in succession, but with Des she sometimes had to go backwards a little before moving forward.

    From a learning standpoint, I gained the most knowledge from Despereaux. It was much easier for me to see Pryor and Chance's ideas of learning put to use in a live animal than a computer program. It was also more clear that distractions in the room could alter Despereaux's performance, and that could not be seen in Sniffy. I also had a stronger connection to Despereaux and really wanted her to succeed each day of training. These feelings were not the same with Sniffy and I was honestly just glad to have that part of the project done as early as possible.

    I personally do not think I gained much knowledge from Sniffy and would not recommend the program for future classes. It was very time consuming and did not add much of anything to my training of Despereaux. I found the program repetitive and frustrating because it was not as hands on as training a live rat.

Above is a comparison of the FR5 schedule for Sniffy (left) and Des (right). As you can see, both are similar in that they were rewarded at similar intervals over time.