Name: _______________________ PSYC3210: Principles of Learning Sniffy Assignment 4.1: Basics of Operant

Name: _______________________
PSYC3210: Principles of Learning
Sniffy Assignment 4.1: Basics of Operant Conditioning; Schedules of Reinforcement
READINGS: You should also read Chapter 9 and the first half of Chapter 10 in Sniffy Pro.
For this assignment you will shape Sniffy to bar press for a food reward according to difference schedules of reinforcement (Chapter 12: Exercise 32 & 33). You will start by opening the “ShapeBP” file, which is a saved session for a rat that has been shaped to bar press.
First complete exercise 32. Allow Sniffy to train for 3 cumulative records. Print out Sniffy’s 3rd cumulative record before moving on to Exercise 33. After Sniffy is trained on VR5, you will increase Sniffy to VR10 and then ultimately to VR50 (this will need to be done in increments). After reaching VR50, allow Sniffy to train for 2 additional cumulative records. Print out the cumulative record for VR50. (IMPORTANT NOTE: the maximum amount of training that sniffy can do is 10 cumulative records—keep this in mind as you are incrementing!)
READINGS: You should also read Chapter 9 and the first half of Chapter 10 in Sniffy Pro.
For this assignment you will shape Sniffy to bar press for a food reward according to difference schedules of reinforcement (Chapter 12: Exercise 32 & 33). You will start by opening the “ShapeBP” file, which is a saved session for a rat that has been shaped to bar press.
First complete exercise 32. Allow Sniffy to train for 3 cumulative records. Print out Sniffy’s 3rd cumulative record before moving on to Exercise 33. After Sniffy is trained on VR5, you will increase Sniffy to VR10 and then ultimately to VR50 (this will need to be done in increments). After reaching VR50, allow Sniffy to train for 2 additional cumulative records. Print out the cumulative record for VR50. (IMPORTANT NOTE: the maximum amount of training that sniffy can do is 10 cumulative records—keep this in mind as you are incrementing!)
After completing Exercises 22 and 23 in Sniffy Pro, you will turn in a written report. Your written report should address the following questions:
Give a detailed description of what you did during this assignment. This is your opportunity to explain your understanding of the experiment. Write this as though you ran the experiment rather than restating the directions from the book. In your answer you should include the following: (i) what is the learning history of your subject? (ii) How did you design the experiment (i.e., what were the conditions)? (iii) how did the rats behavior change across time? (iv) what is your interpretation of the results? (v) Include copies of your cumulative record from the rat responding on at VR-10 and a VR-50 (two windows of data will be included to accomplish this).
Explain ratio strain. How were you able to avoid ratio strain to reach VR50? What progression did you use? Did you run into any difficulty?
How does the response rate (slope of cumulative record) change as the value of the VR-schedule increases?
Thought question: How would the behavior look different if we were testing rats on a fixed interval schedule? What would happen if we increased from an FI5 to an FI50s?