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.