Not Quite Love at First Sight

These past few weeks have been interesting, nonetheless, with EP and our talented rat, Fi-B. I mentioned in my first ever blog post that I was hesitant to hold Fi-B. Well that hasn't really changed. I can say that my apprehensions have improved and I am able to hold her for a few, short minutes. The pictures below depict one of our most recent training sessions. The picture on the left shows my rejection of Fi-B's attempt at a kiss. The picture on the right shows her crawling up my shoulder - I wasn't too happy about that one.

Overall, I enjoyed this experience. I felt accomplished to see Fi-B learn the behavior so quickly. I was practically fascinated to see her learn to press the bar almost immediately during FR 1 as I expected this behavior to take at least a week. Additionally, I was impressed with how smart she was. Though EP and I may be a bit biased to our rat, she really is a true star! She probably could have her own tv show on TLC - Fi-B: The Princess Rat.

Our rat seemed to be one of the more well-behaved rats in our class. As the reinforcement schedules increased, she increasingly became more concerned with what was going on outside of the operant box than with actually pressing the bar. Thus, EP and I resorted to placing the front door on the box to hide any distractions.

There were only two aspects of this project that I disliked. One was the food deprivation. I, myself, love food. I constantly snack throughout the day. Fi-B, however, does not have this luxury. She relies on EP and myself for her food. It was almost torturing to see her lunge at the placement of food in her cage. She must have been so hungry! The other aspect that I didn't particularly like was extinction. It was heartbreaking to see her so frustrated. At times she would tap on the front window. I imagined her saying, "get me out of here" or "please reinforce my behavior!" I felt terrible to see her like that. I am glad this part is over. I cannot think of any improvements that can be made to this experience. I can only say that I wish I had gotten closer to my rat.

In conclusion, I do believe I gained quite a bit from this experience. It was great to be able to apply what we learn in class and physically see the results. I look forward to (hopefully) completing another experiment with Fi-B in the future.

Fi-B versus Sniffy: Who's the Better Rat?

I found using the program, the Virtual Rat Sniffy, to be very helpful in training my rat, Fi-B. It was a solid foundation in learning how to handle the training session. Before using the software program, I only understood the basics of operant conditioning. However, the program gave me an interactive experience with a rat. I had a better understanding of our project and what we were expected to accomplish over these past few weeks. I would absolutely recommend using the program for future classes. I believe it helped prepare me for the training periods with Fi-B. Though I made a few mistakes in the Sniffy program, I was able to correct for those with my live rat. 

That being said, training a live rat is much different than training a virtual rat. A virtual rat is not realistic. The virtual rat was instructing me exactly how to train a rat, while the live rat is unpredictable. 

Another difference is the interaction with the rats. Since the rat is virtual, we are unable to show it the unconditional love that we showed our live rat. We are also unable to give the virtual rat the large amounts of verbal encouragement that Fi-B received. Further, we couldn't do other activities such as scroll Facebook or Twitter or complete crossword puzzles with our virtual rats. 

Pictured above is my partner, EP, and Fi-B completing a crossword puzzle from the New York Times. I knew our rat was brilliant - but I didn't think she was this brilliant!

Fi-B's Weight Chart

Target Weight: 207 Grams

It was a challenge for EP and I to keep Fi-B at her target weight, especially in the beginning. You can see between the first training day (9/11/13) and 9/20/13 that her weight fluctuated. Her heaviest weight, besides her starting weight, was 213.3 grams (9/23/13) and her lowest weight was 201 grams (10/4/13). EP and I did our best to adjust her food servings based on the serving chart provided in the rat lab. 

A Graph of Responses for Each Reinforcement Schedule

Shaping --- 47

FR 1 ------- 240

FR 2 ------- 269

FR 3 ------- 149

FR 5 ------- 452

FR 7 ------- 540

FR 10 ----- 587

FR 12 ----- 465

FR 15 ----- 200

FR 20 ----- 783

Ext 1 ------ 300

Ext 2 ------ 300

Final Day of Extinction

Today, we began the last day of extinction at 3:41 pm. To reiterate, extinction is the gradual decline of behavior after ceasing reinforcement. I noticed that it took Fi-B some time to make her way to the bar to continue the previous behavior. She did attempt the behavior and had allotted 57 presses in under 4 minutes. Then after 9 and a half minutes, she had 127 presses. However, none of this behavior was reinforced. Since she was not being reinforced, Fi-B continued to get frustrated in the operant box. She had more time to do activities such as, sniffing the particularly appealing left corner, jumping, standing on her hind legs (this was a new one), and attacking the front window. At one point, she consistently pushed the bar for 20 seconds. If she were human, I would attribute this to her thinking that the bar was broken, but that it would be fixed if she continued to push it. This extinction session went better than the last with fewer extinction bursts.

Below you will find a video taken the last day of extinction. You can see that Fi-B is doing other activities in the operant box. However, at 26 seconds, you see her get frustrated with the bar because she isn't receiving a food pellet for her presses.

(Above is the cumulative record for our final extinction day. You can see one extinction burst around 20 minutes.)

Extinction Day 1

Today was the first day for extinction. The goal was to extinguish Fi-B's learned behavior of pressing the bar for reinforcement. Instead, she would receive no reinforcement for any bar presses. I must say that I felt bad for Fi-B watching her get frustrated. She was frustrated because she was no longer receiving the food pellets. Our session began at 3:52 pm.

Fi-B attempted to perform the same behavior that she had learned. After approximately 10 minutes, she appeared to have give up, though she would try pushing the bar every now and then. Towards the end of the session she became very frustrated. She proceeded to attack the top and bottom of the bar - anything to get reinforced. She also tried sticking her head up the hopper to reach the food pellets. We observed her twisting and turning every which way to get inside. The food hopper was filled with the food pellets so I must wonder if she would continue with this behavior if the food hopper didn't have the pellets. I only assume she can smell them.

Fi-B did experience an extinction burst. Extinction bursts occur when there is a sudden increase in the behavior's frequency followed by a decline in the behavior.

(The cumulative record shows our rat's performance during her first day of extinction. You can see her first extinction burst within 5 minutes.)

FR 20

LIke the previous training sessions, the goal for this session was for Fi-B to learn to press the bar 20 times for a reinforcement. Fi-B was quick to complete the task and immediately went to the bar and began pressing. By 16 minutes and 23 seconds, she had accumulated 363 presses. She appeared to cooperate more today and rarely left the back right corner by the bar. By 25 minutes and 47 seconds, she had pushed the bar 674 presses. Finally at the end of our 30 minute training session, she had an astounding 785 pushes for 39 reinforcements! This training session included lots of verbal reinforcement from my partner, EP, the pageant mom. Nevertheless, I found this training session to be quite stressful as Fi-B would wander around at times when she realized it took a large amount of bar presses.

(This is the cumulative record for FR 20. My apologies for the poor quality.)

Spiderrat, Spiderrat, does whatever a Spiderrat can

Today, we worked on FR 15 and started at 3:31 pm.. For every 15 pushes, Fi-B received a food pellet as reinforcement. By 2 minutes and 41 seconds, we recorded 92 pushes. I am not too sure what was going on with Fi-B today. It was almost like she was hallucinating. However, it was not just Fi-B. The other rat training in a box further down was acting the same way. We observed Fi-B reaching, no - jumping for the top corner of the operant box. One time we caught her sticking to the side of the box with her feet not touching the bottom. After 17 minutes, we changed the bedding below the box. We assume she smells the previous rat (Snickerpuss III). This made a significant difference on her behavior. We also put the front to the operant box on like we did for FR 12. At the end of the training period, Fi-B recorded 465 pushes for 30 reinforcements. I've included a video with commentary on her absurd behavior today.

*I chose to use the Spiderman theme song for my title of this post as Fi-B acted like a Spiderrat during this session. EP and I even sang the song at one point.

(Here, you will see Fi-B jumping at the corners of the operant box.)

(This is the cumulative record for the FR 15 schedule.)

By the end of the session, you can see that Fi-B seemed bored.

FR 12

Today was a rough day for Fi-B. It started at 3:39 pm. We only recorded 397 pushes in 21 minutes. That's approximately 36 pushes in one minute, not her best. In the last 10 minutes, she rarely ever pushed the lever. Instead, we experienced a great deal of wandering around, sniffing, and rearing up. My partner, EP, and I finally figured out that the previous rat using the operant box might have urinated. **We're looking at you Snickerpuss III. We recorded 403 pushes and 33 reinforcements in the 30 minute training session. I am hopeful that the next training session will be better. I've included a short video clip of Fi-B not cooperating below.

(This is the cumulative record for FR12.)

Fi-B was very distracted today as you can see after 10 minutes. EP and I decided to put up the front door of the operant box to block out any situational noise, light, or other activity.

FR 10

This session began at 3:36 pm. Upon entering the operant box, Fi-B was frantic and quick to push the lever for reinforcement. We recorded 23 pushes in 44 seconds. After 5 minutes and 1 second, we recorded 135 pushes. Wow! Although there were a few short periods of sniffing around and grooming, I was very impressed with Fi-B's progress. This training session was rocky at times. She would get frustrated because she would push the bar a good number, but there would not be a food pellet in the hopper. This occurred multiple times because she would occasionally push 6-8 fast times. By the end of the 30 minute training session, Fi-B recorded 587 pushes for 57 reinforcements. Below is the cumulative record from this training session FR10.

(This is the cumulative record for FR 10.)

Around 12 minutes, you can see that Fi-B had a small period of inactivity, but other than that it was a successful training period!

A Dangerous Combination: FR 5 and FR 7

For the FR 5 training session, Fi-B had to push the bar 5 times to receive a food pellet. We began at 3:34 pm. It was almost immediate that she remembered the training concept from the day before (FR 3). By 2 minutes, we had recorded 20 pushes resulting in 4 total reinforcements. After 9 minutes and 7 seconds, Fi-B had a total of 146 pushes. As usual, there were brief periods of exploring and grooming. However, after 21 minutes and 22 seconds, Fi-B recorded 288 pushes of the bar. The last 7 minutes were spent wandering around sniffing and grooming. At the end of the 30 minute training session in FR 5, we recorded 452 pushes and 86 reinforcements.

Below is a video from FR 5. You will see here that Fi-B has learned to push the bar a certain number of times and then checks the hopper for a food pellet.

(This is the cumulative record for FR5.)

Just like the previous day, FI-B immediately remembered her training and began pressing the bar upon entering the operant box. (We started at 3:32 pm.) Similar to FR 5, the goal for today was for Fi-B to push the bar 7 consecutive times before receiving reinforcement. This was an off day for Fi-B as the first 6-7 minutes were spent doing anything but pressing the bar. However, she pulled through towards the end allotting 336 presses in 19 minutes and 50 seconds. The last 10 minutes were a bit spread out as far as bar pressing went. By the end of this training period, she had 540 pushes and had accumulated 74 reinforcements.

(This is the cumulative record for FR7.)

Fi-B catches on: FR 3

Fi-B began to understand that she needs to push the lever multiple times for a pellet. To keep her on a routine as best as possible, we started the session at 3:38 pm. Our goal was for Fi-B to learn to push the bar 3 consecutive times before receiving reinforcement. She began by pushing it twice and checked the hopper for food, obviously remembering her training from FR 2 the previous day. Fi-B proceeded to give the lever 2 fast pushes and then would check. Finally after 7 minutes and 50 seconds, we recorded 3 consecutive pushes. I must admit that I find it extremely fascinating that she is starting to figure it out. She eventually learned to push the lever 2-4 times rather quickly. However, this caused her to get confused when sometimes she received a pellet after 1 push and others 3 clicks. This was due to her fast, consecutive presses. After 12 minutes and 7 seconds, she began to consistently push 3 times for a pellet. Towards the end of the training session she had a few periods of grooming. We decided to end our training session at 29 minutes and 13 seconds. Fi-B had a total of 439 presses. Wow!

(This graph shows our cumulative record for our FR3 schedule.)

The cumulative record clearly shows that at a certain point, Fi-B began to get in a pattern of pushing the bar a specific amount of times to receive reinforcement. 

This training session went quite smoothly. My partner, EP, and I had no problems training her today.

FR 1 and 2 in ONE Training Session

In operant conditioning, a fixed ratio is a schedule of reinforcements in which a behavior is reinforced only after a certain number of responses. The first day Princess Fiona Buttercup, or Fi-B for short, was put on an FR 1 schedule starting at 3:33 pm. This means that for every push of the lever, she received one food pellet as reinforcement.

Once in the operant box, Fi-B took less than 15 seconds to recall the shaping we did the day before. She immediately pushed the lever and had 19 presses in 1 minute. It was another proud parent moment!
Although she took some brief periods to groom and sniff around, my partner, EP, and I decided to move straight to FR 2 that day. We stopped the FR 1 schedule after 6 minutes and 29 seconds. She had 83 pushes and 52 reinforcements.

(This is the cumulative record for our FR1 schedule.) 

For an FR 2 schedule, Fi-B had to press the lever twice in order to receive a reinforcement. By 7 minutes and 30 seconds, she had pushed the lever 116 times. EP also gave her quite a bit of verbal reinforcement, or what she likes to call her pageant mom talk. After 12 minutes and 20 seconds, we recorded 147 pushes. I predict there were so few pushes because she appeared to get bored at times. As always, there were periods of grooming and walking around. Although she didn't seem to quite catch on to the 2 pushes/1 reinforcement concept, I was still a proud parent. The graphs below show our progress from FR 1 and 2, respectively. On the bottom graph, you can see around the 8 minute mark that she did indeed get a bit bored as our graph line is less steep. At the end of the training session, Fi-B had 190 bar pushes for 78 reinforcements.

(This is the cumulative record for our FR2 schedule.)

The tick marks on the graphs indicate when Fi-B pushed the bar. For FR 1, we stopped after approximately 6 minutes as Fi-B quickly learned the behavior and moved on to FR 2.

Shaping Day 1

Last week, Princess Fi-B had her very first day of Shaping! It was an exciting day for both myself and my partner, EP. Our goal was for Fi-B to form an association between the bar and the presentation of food. Our training plan for the day was to reinforce Fi-B each time she was on the right side of the operant box near the food hopper. We also reinforced her when she reared up above the bar.

Fortunately, she remembered her magazine training and responded to the sound of the hopper delivering food. This training session began at 3:35 pm. Although there were many periods of grooming and sniffing and exploring, she still continued to respond to the sound of the hopper. Within a few short minutes of being in the box, she learned that rearing up over the lever equaled a reward. Additionally, she recognized that being around the lever equaled a reward. EP and I had a proud parent moment when she found the lever! We were so ecstatic because she pressed the lever 8 consecutive times within less than 30 seconds. Here, she was associating pushing the lever with a reinforcement. At the end of the 30 minute training session, Fi-B had pushed the bar 47 times for 66 total rewards. I could not be more pleased with her progress!

For our next training session, we will continue shaping Fi-B by strengthening the association between the bar and the delivery of food.

Magazine Training

To magazine train Princess Fi-B, she needed to find the food hopper. Then, she had to associate the sound of the hopper with the presentation of a food pellet. We began this by consistently reinforcing her each time she was near the hopper. Once she found it, we reinforced her each time she took her head out of the food hopper.

We were assisted by our TA Madeline and began this session at 3:02 pm. At first, Fi-B was a very curious rat. She thoroughly explored every corner of the operant box before making her way to the food hopper. She also reared up quite a bit along the sides of the box. There were many periods of grooming and sniffing around as well. I expected all of these things to happen based on what I learned from completing the Sniffy program. Princess Fi-B had quite a few funny moments. My favorite was when she would try to stick her head into the hopper to grab the food held in the chamber. Her body would twist and turn in every direction trying to reach it. By the end of the 30 minute training session, Princess Fi-B seemed to catch on to the idea.

We will begin shaping Fi-B during our next training session.

Sniffy, the Virtual Rat

To learn the basics of magazine training and shaping, we used the computer program, Sniffy. First, I had to magazine train the virtual rat. The rat is magazine trained when there is an association between the sound of the magazine (where the food pellets are distributed from) and the distribution of food in the hopper. Here, the primary reinforcer is the presentation of food. During magazine training, I rewarded him each time he was near the hopper. This also introduced a "secondary reinforcer," the sound the hopper makes when presenting food. It took approximately 30 minutes for Sniffy to fully associate the sound with the presentation of food in the hopper.

(Above is the graph from my magazine training of Sniffy.)

After Sniffy was magazine trained, I began shaping him to push the lever above the hopper. By pushing the lever, food was presented to Sniffy. This process took many steps as Sniffy cannot immediately learn this behavior. I gradually trained him to stay in the back corner by reinforcing him when he was in the correct area. Then, I started reinforcing him each time he reared up near the bar. Eventually, Sniffy pressed the bar, though it took about an hour for this particular behavior to be learned.

(This is a snippet of the cumulative record for shaping Sniffy.)

The next step was to put Sniffy on a reinforcement schedule. I chose a VR5, or variable ratio. Here, Sniffy would need to push the bar on average 5 times in order to receive one reinforcement. At first, he got very frustrated. He would press the bar once, maybe twice, and then check the hopper for food. It was confusing for him in the beginning as he didn't quite understand why there wasn't food in the hopper even though he pushed the bar. Soon after, he learned that he had to push it multiple times to receive a reinforcement. The behavior became more concrete when he associated the sound of the food pellet dropping in the hopper with after pushing the bar x amount of times. He would push the bar until he heard the pellet drop, then eat the pellet and continue the behavior.

(This is a snippet of the cumulative record for the VR5 schedule.)

(This is a snippet of the cumulative record of Sniffy's extinction.)

The virtual rat was very helpful in determining how difficult it may be in shaping a live rat to perform a specific behavior.

First Impressions

Last Wednesday was the first day I met our rat, Princess Fi-B, and I could not be more nervous. One of the most appealing aspects of PY 408 was the fact that we get to train our own rat. However when the official day came, I had a difficult time. When I think of rats, I picture the creepy, black and hideous-looking rodents that you may see scurrying around some witches cupboard. Fortunately, our rats are Long-Evans rats. They are black and white with cute (yes I said cute) pink ears and a pink nose. The first day, I was too scared to hold her, but I was able to pet her. Surprisingly, her fur was silky soft. I left that lab period proud of myself and looking forward to the next time I could visit her.

My partner, EP, and I have been visiting Princess Fi-B for about 20 minutes each day so that she is accustomed to being held by humans. Today was the first day that I held her. She was a bit skittish at first, but that was most likely because she could sense my anticipation. The tail still weirded me out a bit; however, overall she was fairly calm and I enjoyed finally holding her. EP and I had a little photoshoot with her so I've posted a picture below. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as it is the first day we will begin to work with them!