Captain Kirk is now on Free feed and enjoying as much food as she can eat. I weighed her the other day just for fun and she has already gained 20 grams.
Also Captain Kirk now gets to enjoy the occasional treat. (Yes that is a Fruit Loop)
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Captains Log Final Entry: Mission Complete
Working with Captain Kirk and my partner was an experience I will never forget. The opportunity to put into action what I learned in class was invaluable. There are still a few schedules I wish we could have gotten to but in the end it was a mission complete. We struggled at times through the process but we accomplished so much in the end by working through each problem and at times even asking for help. I loved the entire experience and feel that there is not a single thing I would change about it. I was really surprised though at how much I have learned to like my rat friend. She may be a spaz but she is definitely fun to work with. At first I thought it would be easy but through trial and error I learned that training is not an easy thing but if you stick with it you will accomplish what you are after.
Captain Kirk is now on Free feed and enjoying as much food as she can eat. I weighed her the other day just for fun and she has already gained 20 grams.
Captain Kirk is now on Free feed and enjoying as much food as she can eat. I weighed her the other day just for fun and she has already gained 20 grams.
Captains Log Report Entry 006: Comparing Sniffy to Captain Kirk
When comparing Sniffy to Captain Kirk we have to realize that Sniffy is a computer program and Captain Kirk is a real rat with hundreds of different actions.
During the shaping process it only took about 15 minutes to train Sniffy while it took eight days to train Captain Kirk. This was kind of discouraging to our team because we felt that we should have gone in and completely shaped our rat in one day.
In our magazine training of Sniffy it was easy because you could see when Sniffy had associated a food pellet with food and when she did not. When we were Magazine training Captain Kirk we were never really sure if we had accomplished our goal or not. Sometimes even when we were shaping we were not sure if we had done it right or not.
With Sniffy we were able to get him over to the corner pretty easy and get him to rear easily but when it came to our rat the behaviors were so sporadic at times that we would constantly have to back up and then move forward a little.
I think working with Sniffy allowed me get my feet wet before training Captain Kirk. Getting my feet wet was good because I was so nervous I was going to mess up. After using Sniffy I was less scared and had a better idea of what was coming at me. Overall even though Sniffy sort of set me up for some disappointment I feel that it was a useful tool in getting me ready to train my own rat because of this I believe Sniffy should be used in the future.
An example of FR 2 cumulative record
During the shaping process it only took about 15 minutes to train Sniffy while it took eight days to train Captain Kirk. This was kind of discouraging to our team because we felt that we should have gone in and completely shaped our rat in one day.
In our magazine training of Sniffy it was easy because you could see when Sniffy had associated a food pellet with food and when she did not. When we were Magazine training Captain Kirk we were never really sure if we had accomplished our goal or not. Sometimes even when we were shaping we were not sure if we had done it right or not.
With Sniffy we were able to get him over to the corner pretty easy and get him to rear easily but when it came to our rat the behaviors were so sporadic at times that we would constantly have to back up and then move forward a little.
I think working with Sniffy allowed me get my feet wet before training Captain Kirk. Getting my feet wet was good because I was so nervous I was going to mess up. After using Sniffy I was less scared and had a better idea of what was coming at me. Overall even though Sniffy sort of set me up for some disappointment I feel that it was a useful tool in getting me ready to train my own rat because of this I believe Sniffy should be used in the future.
An example of FR 2 cumulative record
Captains Log Day 0018 and 0019: Extinction Days 1 and 2
The last part of our project was to extinguish the behavior that we had just taught. When we say extinguish the behavior basically we are talking about when we put our rat back in the box but no matter what she does she does not get a reward. Once we put Captain Kirk in the box she immediately went over to the lever and started pressing it. After a while she gave up. In the graphs below you can see how on day one the behavior was almost extinguished but on day two we had a slight recovery then it dropped out even faster. By the end of our second extinction day Captain Kirk was no longer pressing the lever. During the extinction process we saw some weird behaviors. She would hang on to the walls and lights and then stand up and sniff the air. Every so often she would go over and try to force food out of the hopper. By the end of the second day though she just sat in the corner sniffing and grooming herself.
Below are two graphs. The first graph is day one extinction and the second one is day two extinction.
Captain's Log Report Entry 005: Weight Chart
Below is Captain Kirk's Weight chart for the entire time since we started his food deprivation diet. His target weight has been 217 grams so that is why you see the amount of food go up and down because we were trying to keep her around her target weight.
Captains Log Report Entry 004: Average Number of Responses for different Schedules
Below is a graph of the average number of responses for each schedule or reinforcement that we used. The shaping schedule is split in half because the numbers from the first set of days are so much lower that they drew the last set of days down into the tens. We also chose to include the extinction days.
Captains Log Report Entry 003: Problems with Training
In our training sessions we encountered one major problem that affected our entire training time. Captain Kirk was easily distracted which meant that for us to get anything accomplished we would have to be extremely still and also no one could be in the room with us. That was a problem at times because there were always people coming and going and each time our rat would get distracted. In the end we realized that we had to do something so we talked to Dr. Trench about the issue. She suggested that we do two things. First we needed to put up the shield. Secondly we needed to try to clean the cage each time before we put her in. Once we started doing these two things we saw a drastic increase in Captain Kirk's amount of responses. We feel that if we had used the shield from day one that we would have been able to complete more Fixed Ratio Schedules. We are glad though that we asked for help when we did because it allowed us to at least accomplish 5 schedules.
Below is a picture of the shield that we used to keep Captain Kirk from getting distracted.
Below is a picture of the shield that we used to keep Captain Kirk from getting distracted.
Captains Log Report Entry 002: Fixed Ratio Schedules
During the different Fixed ratio schedules our rat struggled at times moving through them. As can be seen from the different posts we at times had to back up little and hold on a certain schedule because Captain Kirk was not ready to continue on. In the end we made it through five different Fixed Ratio schedules. We had hoped to get a few more done but our training time ran out. We are happy though with the progress we made when working on the Fixed Ratio Schedules.
Captains Log Day 0017: Fixed Ratio Schedule 5 Day 3
Goal:
Our goal for today was to try to achieve the 300 bar presses to show that she has mastered this schedule. Today will be our final training day so we want her to get the 300 bar presses so she will have mastered at least five different schedules.
Procedure:
We cleaned the cage then placed her in it. Once she was in the cage we placed the shield on and observed her actions.
Results
Today she pressed the bar 330 times. She did not take many breaks and overall seemed to be less distracted than normal. Most of her time today was spent in the corner with the lever because she kept pressing the bar for most of the time.
Discussion:
We feel that Captain Kirk has mastered this schedule. We wish would could move her on to FR 7 but today was our last training day. We are happy that she was able to achieve the goal for today. Overall she seems to have mastered the concept of pressing the lever and even though at times she would get frustrated she always kept going.
Cumulative Graph FR 5 Day 3
Our goal for today was to try to achieve the 300 bar presses to show that she has mastered this schedule. Today will be our final training day so we want her to get the 300 bar presses so she will have mastered at least five different schedules.
Procedure:
We cleaned the cage then placed her in it. Once she was in the cage we placed the shield on and observed her actions.
Results
Today she pressed the bar 330 times. She did not take many breaks and overall seemed to be less distracted than normal. Most of her time today was spent in the corner with the lever because she kept pressing the bar for most of the time.
Discussion:
We feel that Captain Kirk has mastered this schedule. We wish would could move her on to FR 7 but today was our last training day. We are happy that she was able to achieve the goal for today. Overall she seems to have mastered the concept of pressing the lever and even though at times she would get frustrated she always kept going.
Cumulative Graph FR 5 Day 3
Captains Log Day 0016: Fixed Ratio 5 Day 2
Goal:
Our goal today was to see if we could get our rat to 300 responses on the FR 5 schedule. Yesterday we only achieved 273 responses.
Procedure:
We cleaned the cage then placed Captain Kirk in. Once Captain Kirk was in we put the shield on and then observed her actions.
Results:
Today she only pressed the lever 270 times which is 3 less than the day before. She seemed to stay on a pretty constant time scale today but just did not do it enough to pass our required 300 bar presses. After each reinforcement she would usually take a break and wonder off to the far corner.
Discussion:
Today we felt that she just was not motivated and also she seemed to be getting distracted today. Her frequency of presses seemed to stay pretty constant through this training session but in the end it was just not enough to move her up to the next schedule. Our plan now is to continue FR 5 for our final training day. We hope that on her last training day she can achieve her goal so we can end on a high note.
Our goal today was to see if we could get our rat to 300 responses on the FR 5 schedule. Yesterday we only achieved 273 responses.
Procedure:
We cleaned the cage then placed Captain Kirk in. Once Captain Kirk was in we put the shield on and then observed her actions.
Results:
Today she only pressed the lever 270 times which is 3 less than the day before. She seemed to stay on a pretty constant time scale today but just did not do it enough to pass our required 300 bar presses. After each reinforcement she would usually take a break and wonder off to the far corner.
Discussion:
Today we felt that she just was not motivated and also she seemed to be getting distracted today. Her frequency of presses seemed to stay pretty constant through this training session but in the end it was just not enough to move her up to the next schedule. Our plan now is to continue FR 5 for our final training day. We hope that on her last training day she can achieve her goal so we can end on a high note.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0015: Fixed Ratio Schedule 5
Goal:
We have set the goal today at a minimum of 300 bar presses. This means that she will continue to get at least 60 reinforcements before we are ready to move on to the next schedule.
Procedure:
We cleaned the cage then placed our rat in the cage. Once she was in the cage we placed the shield on and observed her actions.
Results:
Today she only pressed the lever 273 times. Her rate of bar presses was about the same through the session today except for minute 14 to minute 20. She seemed to just stop and go sit in the corner for about six minutes. During that time she was sniffing and grooming herself. After her six minute break she returned to pressing lever.
Discussion:
We believe that if she had not taken the six minute break that she would have mastered this schedule but as it is we plan on continuing her on this schedule for at least one more day. She seems to be getting frustrated at some points and just stopping instead of continuing onward. Tomorrow we will attempt to master FR 5 so that we can then move on to FR 7. We debated about going ahead on to FR 7 but after discussing the possible drawbacks we realized we could do more harm than good if she was not ready.
We have set the goal today at a minimum of 300 bar presses. This means that she will continue to get at least 60 reinforcements before we are ready to move on to the next schedule.
Procedure:
We cleaned the cage then placed our rat in the cage. Once she was in the cage we placed the shield on and observed her actions.
Results:
Today she only pressed the lever 273 times. Her rate of bar presses was about the same through the session today except for minute 14 to minute 20. She seemed to just stop and go sit in the corner for about six minutes. During that time she was sniffing and grooming herself. After her six minute break she returned to pressing lever.
Discussion:
We believe that if she had not taken the six minute break that she would have mastered this schedule but as it is we plan on continuing her on this schedule for at least one more day. She seems to be getting frustrated at some points and just stopping instead of continuing onward. Tomorrow we will attempt to master FR 5 so that we can then move on to FR 7. We debated about going ahead on to FR 7 but after discussing the possible drawbacks we realized we could do more harm than good if she was not ready.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0014: Fixed Ratio 3 Day 2
Goal:
We wanted to attempt to get Captain Kirk to press the bar at least 180 times today because yesterday she was unable to achieve that goal. We feel that by hitting the bar at least 180 times she will have learned this schedule enough to move on to the next schedule.
Procedure:
Today we cleaned the cage and replaced the wood shavings below the cage because there was some rat feces in the corner. Once we placed Captain Kirk in the chamber we put the shield on again to block out the distractions from the room.
Results:
She pressed the bar a total of 191 times today. She started off strong by pressing the bar a lot as soon as she was in the chamber but slowed down for a few minutes right about the same time as FR 3 day 1. After a few more minutes though she picked up the pace and exceeded the goal that we had set for her today. The session lasted 28:42 minutes.
Discussion:
Because Captain Kirk passed the goal that we had set for her we will be moving her on to the next FR schedule which is FR 5. Today we got a little worried because she began to slow down at about the same point as Day 1 but in the end she got back over the lever and surpassed the number of times that we wanted her to. We are a little worried about FR 5 because she barely passed the number today but hopefully she will just increase her number of bar presses so she can get the same if not more reinforcements.
We wanted to attempt to get Captain Kirk to press the bar at least 180 times today because yesterday she was unable to achieve that goal. We feel that by hitting the bar at least 180 times she will have learned this schedule enough to move on to the next schedule.
Procedure:
Today we cleaned the cage and replaced the wood shavings below the cage because there was some rat feces in the corner. Once we placed Captain Kirk in the chamber we put the shield on again to block out the distractions from the room.
Results:
She pressed the bar a total of 191 times today. She started off strong by pressing the bar a lot as soon as she was in the chamber but slowed down for a few minutes right about the same time as FR 3 day 1. After a few more minutes though she picked up the pace and exceeded the goal that we had set for her today. The session lasted 28:42 minutes.
Discussion:
Because Captain Kirk passed the goal that we had set for her we will be moving her on to the next FR schedule which is FR 5. Today we got a little worried because she began to slow down at about the same point as Day 1 but in the end she got back over the lever and surpassed the number of times that we wanted her to. We are a little worried about FR 5 because she barely passed the number today but hopefully she will just increase her number of bar presses so she can get the same if not more reinforcements.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0013: Fixed Ratio Schedule 3
Goal:
We wanted Captain Kirk to press the lever at least 180 times for an average of at least 60 reinforcements. The 60 reinforcements are needed to make sure that she does not begin to go into extinction.
Procedure:
We once again cleaned the cage before we place our rat in. Once in the cage we installed the shield and the observed Captain Kirk in the box to see how the new schedule affected her behaviors.
Results:
Captain Kirk only pressed the bar 147 times today which did not fit our minimum number to continue. Today she spent most of her time in the back corner sniffing around and grooming herself. The session last the full thirty minute session today. After the first eight minutes we saw a decline in the amount of bar presses that she was doing.
Discussion:
Today Captain Kirk seemed to satiate toward the end of the session but during the sessions it seemed as if she just wasn't interested in the food. We are not sure why we faced this problem today but because she did not reach the 180 times that we wanted we have decided to repeat Fixed Ratio 3 for at least one more day. We feel that hopefully tomorrow she will be more motivated and we will have a better chance of reaching our goal of 180 bar presses.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0012: Fixed Ratio Schedule 2
Goal:
Our goal today was to get her to press the lever at least 120 times so that she would get reinforced at least 60 times.
Procedure:
Today we cleaned the cage before we placed her in it. Once we placed her in we installed the shield and the observed her actions as she went through the training session.
Results:
She pressed the bar 272 times which means she got a total of 136 reinforcements. Today the session lasted 24:16 minutes and her presses were more even over time.
Discussion:
Today we felt that she successfully accomplished the FR 2 schedule and planned on moving her onto FR 3 the next day. Every so often during the training session she would take breaks after being reinforced. At first we were a little concerned about this but Dr. Trench eased our worries and explained to us that it was normal. Captain Kirk seemed to get a little frustrated today with the FR 2 schedule but she did not give up and as the session went on began to understand that she would not get a reward every time she pressed the lever. This is good because it sets us up to continue on to the harder schedules.
Our goal today was to get her to press the lever at least 120 times so that she would get reinforced at least 60 times.
Procedure:
Today we cleaned the cage before we placed her in it. Once we placed her in we installed the shield and the observed her actions as she went through the training session.
Results:
She pressed the bar 272 times which means she got a total of 136 reinforcements. Today the session lasted 24:16 minutes and her presses were more even over time.
Discussion:
Today we felt that she successfully accomplished the FR 2 schedule and planned on moving her onto FR 3 the next day. Every so often during the training session she would take breaks after being reinforced. At first we were a little concerned about this but Dr. Trench eased our worries and explained to us that it was normal. Captain Kirk seemed to get a little frustrated today with the FR 2 schedule but she did not give up and as the session went on began to understand that she would not get a reward every time she pressed the lever. This is good because it sets us up to continue on to the harder schedules.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0011: Fixed Ratio Schedule 1
Goal:
Our goal was for Captain Kirk to get at least 60 reinforcements from pressing the lever. Getting to 60 reinforcements will indicate that we can move on to the next schedule.
Procedure:
We put Captain Kirk into the conditioning box and then installed the shield so that she would not be distracted. After we put her in we just watched to see what kind of progress that she was making.
Results:
She pressed the lever 106 times in the first 12 minutes and then stopped. We continued the session to 21:10 but were not getting any more presses so we stopped early so that we did not have to back track the next training day.
Discussion:
We think that she would have pressed the bar more times is she had been hungrier. We think that she wasn't as hungry because she weigh 4 grams over weight. We were not upset with this training day because we felt that 106 times in 12 minutes was a great step for Captain Kirk. Tomorrow we plan on moving her onto FR 2.
Our goal was for Captain Kirk to get at least 60 reinforcements from pressing the lever. Getting to 60 reinforcements will indicate that we can move on to the next schedule.
Procedure:
We put Captain Kirk into the conditioning box and then installed the shield so that she would not be distracted. After we put her in we just watched to see what kind of progress that she was making.
Results:
She pressed the lever 106 times in the first 12 minutes and then stopped. We continued the session to 21:10 but were not getting any more presses so we stopped early so that we did not have to back track the next training day.
Discussion:
We think that she would have pressed the bar more times is she had been hungrier. We think that she wasn't as hungry because she weigh 4 grams over weight. We were not upset with this training day because we felt that 106 times in 12 minutes was a great step for Captain Kirk. Tomorrow we plan on moving her onto FR 2.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0010: Shaping Day 8
Goal:
Our goal was for Captain Kirk to press the bar most of the time and for us to only give minimal manual reinforcements.
Procedure:
Today we mostly let Captain Kirk press the bar by herself. We only manually gave reinforcements when she went to the back corner and did not seem to be interested any more.
Results:
Today we only had to give 2 manual reinforcements. Overall Captain Kirk pressed the lever 68 times. The only two reinforcements we gave were when she would get distracted over in the corner.
Discussion:
Our rat now seems to be shaped. It looks like she has finally associated the lever with food. Our plan tomorrow is put her on FR 1 schedule. The FR 1 schedule is not much different from our current process but we feel that by giving her one day on FR 1 we will not lose the progress that we have already made.
Our goal was for Captain Kirk to press the bar most of the time and for us to only give minimal manual reinforcements.
Procedure:
Today we mostly let Captain Kirk press the bar by herself. We only manually gave reinforcements when she went to the back corner and did not seem to be interested any more.
Results:
Today we only had to give 2 manual reinforcements. Overall Captain Kirk pressed the lever 68 times. The only two reinforcements we gave were when she would get distracted over in the corner.
Discussion:
Our rat now seems to be shaped. It looks like she has finally associated the lever with food. Our plan tomorrow is put her on FR 1 schedule. The FR 1 schedule is not much different from our current process but we feel that by giving her one day on FR 1 we will not lose the progress that we have already made.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0009: Shaping Day 7
Goal:
Our goal today was to begin backing off on the amount of reinforcements we gave her and let her press the lever more.
Procedure:
Today we backed off the number of times we gave reinforcements and instead tried to get our rat to press the lever. A few times we would have to revert back to giving her reinforcements for rearing and coming down but most of the time she was reinforcing herself. We would let her rear up about two times in hopes that she would press the lever but if after two times she had not pressed it we would give her a treat on her next rear.
Results:
Today we were able to let Captain Kirk press the bar more that we reinforced her manually. A few times she would get distracted so we draw her back by giving her a treat when she turned toward the hopper but most of the manual treats were given for rearing. She pressed the bar 38 times and we manually fed her 20 times.
Discussion:
The results for today's training session seemed promising. With her pressing the bar more times than we had to feed her me and my partner feel like maybe after one more day we can put her on the FR schedules. It really seems that the shield is working to keep Captain Kirk from being so distracted.
Our goal today was to begin backing off on the amount of reinforcements we gave her and let her press the lever more.
Procedure:
Today we backed off the number of times we gave reinforcements and instead tried to get our rat to press the lever. A few times we would have to revert back to giving her reinforcements for rearing and coming down but most of the time she was reinforcing herself. We would let her rear up about two times in hopes that she would press the lever but if after two times she had not pressed it we would give her a treat on her next rear.
Results:
Today we were able to let Captain Kirk press the bar more that we reinforced her manually. A few times she would get distracted so we draw her back by giving her a treat when she turned toward the hopper but most of the manual treats were given for rearing. She pressed the bar 38 times and we manually fed her 20 times.
Discussion:
The results for today's training session seemed promising. With her pressing the bar more times than we had to feed her me and my partner feel like maybe after one more day we can put her on the FR schedules. It really seems that the shield is working to keep Captain Kirk from being so distracted.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0008: Shaping Day 6
Goal:
Our goal today was to reinforce for the action of rearing and coming down on the bar. This specific action was chosen because we wanted to be selective in what type of reinforcements she got.
Procedure:
Today we would reinforce her on the way down from a rear. This was to get her in the habit of coming down on the lever. We had to be sure though not to give a reinforcement when she was sniffing the light because we did not want her to see that as the cue to get food. Today we reinforced mainly for the behavior we wanted but at times had to back up just one step to keep her interested in the bar. Also we installed the shield from the start today to minimize any distractions.
Results:
Today our rat got very used to raising up and coming down on the bar. We did not have as many regressions and she seemed to grasp the idea of pressing bar. She pressed the bar a total of 27 times and we reinforced her 47 times. The session lasted 27:52 minutes.
Discussion:
It seemed that today our rat was less distracted because of the shield and thus we were able to get more done. She seemed to be associating pressing the lever with receiving the food. This was great progress today and we believe within the next few days she will be full shaped and we can move on to some of the fixed ratio schedules.
Our goal today was to reinforce for the action of rearing and coming down on the bar. This specific action was chosen because we wanted to be selective in what type of reinforcements she got.
Procedure:
Today we would reinforce her on the way down from a rear. This was to get her in the habit of coming down on the lever. We had to be sure though not to give a reinforcement when she was sniffing the light because we did not want her to see that as the cue to get food. Today we reinforced mainly for the behavior we wanted but at times had to back up just one step to keep her interested in the bar. Also we installed the shield from the start today to minimize any distractions.
Results:
Today our rat got very used to raising up and coming down on the bar. We did not have as many regressions and she seemed to grasp the idea of pressing bar. She pressed the bar a total of 27 times and we reinforced her 47 times. The session lasted 27:52 minutes.
Discussion:
It seemed that today our rat was less distracted because of the shield and thus we were able to get more done. She seemed to be associating pressing the lever with receiving the food. This was great progress today and we believe within the next few days she will be full shaped and we can move on to some of the fixed ratio schedules.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0007: Shaping Day 5
Goal:
Our goal today was to get her to put her nose or paw on the lever and potentially start working on rearing up above the bar.
Procedure:
Today we did a quick review and started on touching her nose or paw to the bar. Each time she would touch the bar we would give her a reinforcement. Once we had that action set we would go to trying to get her to rear above the bar then touch the bar on her way down. We had some success but had to keep alternating back and forth between touching the bar and rearing because she would go for a few minutes then stop.
Results:
We achieved a lot of progress today. She would constantly go over to the bar and touch it then begin to walk over to the hopper to get her food. We also had her rearing above the bar and touching the lever on the way down. Today she pressed the lever a total of 11 times and we reinforced her 77 times. Her training session today 20:38.
Discussion:
We ended the session a little early today because after the first 17 minutes of awesome progress she seemed to no longer be motivated and moved back to the corner of the box and just sniffed. We were also worried about going over the recommended amount of pellets which after discussion with Dr. Trench we learned that it was ok to continue as long as the rat seemed motivated. We feel though that we made some good steps forward with the assistance of Dr. Trench.
Our goal today was to get her to put her nose or paw on the lever and potentially start working on rearing up above the bar.
Procedure:
Today we did a quick review and started on touching her nose or paw to the bar. Each time she would touch the bar we would give her a reinforcement. Once we had that action set we would go to trying to get her to rear above the bar then touch the bar on her way down. We had some success but had to keep alternating back and forth between touching the bar and rearing because she would go for a few minutes then stop.
Results:
We achieved a lot of progress today. She would constantly go over to the bar and touch it then begin to walk over to the hopper to get her food. We also had her rearing above the bar and touching the lever on the way down. Today she pressed the lever a total of 11 times and we reinforced her 77 times. Her training session today 20:38.
Discussion:
We ended the session a little early today because after the first 17 minutes of awesome progress she seemed to no longer be motivated and moved back to the corner of the box and just sniffed. We were also worried about going over the recommended amount of pellets which after discussion with Dr. Trench we learned that it was ok to continue as long as the rat seemed motivated. We feel though that we made some good steps forward with the assistance of Dr. Trench.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0006: Shaping Day 4
Goal:
Today's goal was to get our rat touching the lever and possibly even rearing up over the lever. Once we have her associated with the lever the hardest part is actually getting her to press down on the lever.
Procedure:
We started off our session with a quick review of the previous session and then continued on with what our goal was. Each time she would touch the lever we would giver her a reinforcement. Several times though we had to take a step back because she would not go near the lever. Most of our time was spent trying to draw her out of the corner. Today we also tried out the box shield to see if it made a difference in her actions.
Results:
We were not able to make as much progress as we wanted. She seemed to stay distracted during the session so most of our reinforcements were used trying to get her out of the corner and back on task. She pressed the lever 7 times and we reinforced her 54 times.
Discussion:
Our results today might have been because another group was in the room with us and our rat seemed to get easily distracted when other people where around. We added the shield today in an attempt to minimize that distraction. We felt that we did not make much progress today but we did have few times where she seemed to be getting closer to achieving the goal for the day. Our next training day will probably be spent on the same task so that we can hopefully accomplish some more progress.
Today's goal was to get our rat touching the lever and possibly even rearing up over the lever. Once we have her associated with the lever the hardest part is actually getting her to press down on the lever.
Procedure:
We started off our session with a quick review of the previous session and then continued on with what our goal was. Each time she would touch the lever we would giver her a reinforcement. Several times though we had to take a step back because she would not go near the lever. Most of our time was spent trying to draw her out of the corner. Today we also tried out the box shield to see if it made a difference in her actions.
Results:
We were not able to make as much progress as we wanted. She seemed to stay distracted during the session so most of our reinforcements were used trying to get her out of the corner and back on task. She pressed the lever 7 times and we reinforced her 54 times.
Discussion:
Our results today might have been because another group was in the room with us and our rat seemed to get easily distracted when other people where around. We added the shield today in an attempt to minimize that distraction. We felt that we did not make much progress today but we did have few times where she seemed to be getting closer to achieving the goal for the day. Our next training day will probably be spent on the same task so that we can hopefully accomplish some more progress.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0005: Shaping Day 3
Goal:
Our goal today was to go through our first few steps again and if possible begin to move on to nose or paw on the lever. Once again we were trying to get her to associate the lever with food.
Procedure:
We started by reinforcing movement toward the bar. Once she seemed to be staying in area of the bar we began to move on to her making contact with the bar. She made more contact with the bar so we began to only reinforce her for bar contact. After a few minutes though she seemed to digress so we took a few steps back and worked our way back to bar contact.
Results:
She began to make more contact with the bar. A few times we had to back track a few steps but in the end she seemed to be making more of an association with the lever and food. Toward the end of the session she seemed to become satiated and no longer motivated to continue pressing the bar. Today she pressed the lever 10 times and we gave her 55 reinforcements. The session lasted for 28 minutes.
Discussion:
Today we seemed to make some progress. Even though we had to back up a few times I feel that in the end she began to learn what we wanted her to learn. She seemed to finally be associating the lever with food. She sometimes still gets distracted but today seemed better and she seemed to stay motivated longer.
Our goal today was to go through our first few steps again and if possible begin to move on to nose or paw on the lever. Once again we were trying to get her to associate the lever with food.
Procedure:
We started by reinforcing movement toward the bar. Once she seemed to be staying in area of the bar we began to move on to her making contact with the bar. She made more contact with the bar so we began to only reinforce her for bar contact. After a few minutes though she seemed to digress so we took a few steps back and worked our way back to bar contact.
Results:
She began to make more contact with the bar. A few times we had to back track a few steps but in the end she seemed to be making more of an association with the lever and food. Toward the end of the session she seemed to become satiated and no longer motivated to continue pressing the bar. Today she pressed the lever 10 times and we gave her 55 reinforcements. The session lasted for 28 minutes.
Discussion:
Today we seemed to make some progress. Even though we had to back up a few times I feel that in the end she began to learn what we wanted her to learn. She seemed to finally be associating the lever with food. She sometimes still gets distracted but today seemed better and she seemed to stay motivated longer.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0004: Shaping Day 2
Goal: Today we wanted to get our rat to put some part of her body on or against the lever. Our goal was to get her to associate the lever with food.
Procedure: We started the session by quickly running through the things we had practiced the other day to get her started. Once we had given about five pellets in review we started to try to get her to put any part of her body on or against the lever. At a few points in the session we had to regress back to earlier steps so that we could begin to make our way back over to the lever.
Results: We did not progress as far as we wanted. Today she only pressed the lever one time and that was with her leg. Most of the time was spent in review of the first day because she would return back to the far corner. Today she pressed the lever one time and we gave her a total of 63 pellets. The session lasted 27 minutes.
Discussion: Today did not go as planned. We wanted to get her to put some part of her body against the lever but we did not have any success with this. She would sometimes explore the corner with the lever but most of the time she spent in the back corner. At times it seemed as if she was not magazine trained but other times it was clear that she was. I believe that we might have attempted to move to far to quickly and now have to take a step back so that we can continue to move forward.
Procedure: We started the session by quickly running through the things we had practiced the other day to get her started. Once we had given about five pellets in review we started to try to get her to put any part of her body on or against the lever. At a few points in the session we had to regress back to earlier steps so that we could begin to make our way back over to the lever.
Results: We did not progress as far as we wanted. Today she only pressed the lever one time and that was with her leg. Most of the time was spent in review of the first day because she would return back to the far corner. Today she pressed the lever one time and we gave her a total of 63 pellets. The session lasted 27 minutes.
Discussion: Today did not go as planned. We wanted to get her to put some part of her body against the lever but we did not have any success with this. She would sometimes explore the corner with the lever but most of the time she spent in the back corner. At times it seemed as if she was not magazine trained but other times it was clear that she was. I believe that we might have attempted to move to far to quickly and now have to take a step back so that we can continue to move forward.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0003: Shaping Day 1
Goal: Our goal today was to get our rat to the corner that contains the lever. The reason for this is to get her to associate the corner with food and once we have her in the corner it will be easier to get her to perform other actions like raising up over the lever.
Procedure: We first started by giving her a treat every time she turned her head to the corner with the hopper and lever. Once she performed that action multiple times we then began giving her food only when she walked toward the corner.
Results: We were able to get her to the point of walking toward the hopper every time we rewarded her. At first it took a few minutes to get the proper action that we wanted and a few times we had to back up a step to get her to do as we wanted. A few times she went over and explored the bar area so we gave her a reward for that also. During her exploration of the bar area she pressed the lever six times. Today we reinforced her 68 times and the session was 23 minutes long.
Discussion: Today's training session seemed to go a bit slow at start because we struggled getting our rat out of the corner of the box. At times she would just stop everything she was doing and go sit in the corner of the box and just sniff at the bottom. Eventually we made progress and got her over to the corner of the box so that we could reinforce her for getting closer to the bar. At times though she would get close to the lever and it seems accidentally hit the lever. Overall we made decent progress today, she seems to be associating the area of the lever with food.
Cumulative Record
Procedure: We first started by giving her a treat every time she turned her head to the corner with the hopper and lever. Once she performed that action multiple times we then began giving her food only when she walked toward the corner.
Results: We were able to get her to the point of walking toward the hopper every time we rewarded her. At first it took a few minutes to get the proper action that we wanted and a few times we had to back up a step to get her to do as we wanted. A few times she went over and explored the bar area so we gave her a reward for that also. During her exploration of the bar area she pressed the lever six times. Today we reinforced her 68 times and the session was 23 minutes long.
Discussion: Today's training session seemed to go a bit slow at start because we struggled getting our rat out of the corner of the box. At times she would just stop everything she was doing and go sit in the corner of the box and just sniff at the bottom. Eventually we made progress and got her over to the corner of the box so that we could reinforce her for getting closer to the bar. At times though she would get close to the lever and it seems accidentally hit the lever. Overall we made decent progress today, she seems to be associating the area of the lever with food.
Cumulative Record
Captains Log Day 0002: Magazine Training
Goal: Today's goal was to train my rat to associate the sound of food hitting the hopper and the light going off in the box. This process is called classical conditioning. The purpose of this is to make sure that my rat will associate the sound/light with food and thus the sound/light will become an immediate reward when she does the correct action.
Procedure: My rat was placed on a food deprivation diet to get her down to 217 grams. The food deprivation was used because it motivates her to want the food that is given during training. In today's training session we used the hand switch to deliver the reinforcements. We would give our rat a reinforcement every time she would move away from the hopper so that she would hear an see the sound and then return to the hopper.
Results: Our rat began to come to the hopper whenever we pressed the hand switch. We tested this by letting her go to the corner then pressing the hand switch. Once the sound/light went off she would go to the hopper and eat. Today we gave her a total of 61 pellets and the session lasted 14:33 minutes.
Discussion: Today she seems to have gained an association between the sound/light and food in the hopper. If this is so then tomorrow when we start shaping we can begin to mover her to the bar.
Cumulative Record
Procedure: My rat was placed on a food deprivation diet to get her down to 217 grams. The food deprivation was used because it motivates her to want the food that is given during training. In today's training session we used the hand switch to deliver the reinforcements. We would give our rat a reinforcement every time she would move away from the hopper so that she would hear an see the sound and then return to the hopper.
Results: Our rat began to come to the hopper whenever we pressed the hand switch. We tested this by letting her go to the corner then pressing the hand switch. Once the sound/light went off she would go to the hopper and eat. Today we gave her a total of 61 pellets and the session lasted 14:33 minutes.
Discussion: Today she seems to have gained an association between the sound/light and food in the hopper. If this is so then tomorrow when we start shaping we can begin to mover her to the bar.
Cumulative Record
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Captians Log Report Entry 001: Practicing with Sniffy
Practicing with Sniffy
Sniffy is a virtual rat that we used so that we could learn the processes required to train a rat. The program allowed us to experiment with train a virtual rat so that when we got to our actual rat we would be more comfortable and a little bit less nervous. While training Sniffy I got a better sense of the initial process of shaping and then learned that once the rat learns the basic steps of hitting the lever it then becomes a waiting process to see if it has learned how to get food. The next thing Sniffy was used for was to give us a chance to see what a schedule of reinforcement looks like and also what extinction looks like. The process that I used on sniffy was to start magazine training, then move into shaping and once Sniffy learned shaping I put it on a variable ratio 3, the final stage was to put Sniffy into extinction. This entire process took about thirty minutes which is not bad when compared to the amount of time needed to train our actual rat. Sniffy seems to learn exceptionally fast and the real rat doesn't have the option of speeding up time either so overall training sniffy was meant to get us comfortable working with the rats. In magazine training I had to get sniffy associated with the sound of the found hitting the hopper. This did not take long about 15 minutes total and the she was associated with the sound. Next I went into shaping, shaping also took about 15 minutes but was a little bit harder than magazine training because I had to make sure not to miss the action I was looking for. I believe shaping the virtual rat will be easier than the actual rat because it seems that sniffy has a limited amount of behaviors. After shaping I put Sniffy on variable ratio 3. In this ratio I did not see to much of a change in Sniffy's behavior and the responses seemed to stay pretty much the same and stayed on a fairly diagonal line. Below is a graph that shows the amount of food and lever presses that occurred during different phases of training.
Picture of Sniffy
Chart of Magazine training, shaping and variable ratio
Chart of Extinction
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Captain's Log Day 0001: Meeting Captain Kirk
Captain Kirk is a Long-Evans rat. One note though is that even though Captain Kirk is a male name our Captain Kirk is a female. We decided on the name Captain Kirk because I am a Star Trek fan and have wanted to name one of my pets Captain Kirk for a long time. Fortunately my partner was fine with the idea. My thoughts about handling Captain Kirk before our initial encounter were that it would be an interesting experience and I was pretty sure that I would be able to handle her without much trouble. My partner on the other hand was a little bit nervous about handling her but has since gotten a little better. Personally I have enjoyed the experience of handling Captain Kirk and while she seems to be hyper and extremely curious about her environment I have had no problems in handling her.
Below are a few pictures of Captain Kirk.
Below are a few pictures of Captain Kirk.
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