Final Post

Training Rat was an incredible experience! Not only was this my first time dealing with animals professionally, it was also my first time training using a proven, well documented method. Initially I was apprehensive; I was afraid of hurting Rat, of what Rat might do if she felt defensive, how aggressive the animals were, etc. But now after having experienced the rats first-hand, I would gladly do this as much as I can.

Training dogs (and attempting to train a friend's cat) is something that I have dealt with multiple times before, and I have done so without formal training of my own. Now that I have been educated in training and have real world experience, I feel confident that I can train just about anything, given a proper reinforcement and enough time.

Sniffy was very helpful, but in the end I had more problems with Rat, and that makes perfect sense. A program is designed to be perfect (although it may seem flawed to the user, it is still programmed to be perfect); a real animal is not. A real animal teaches you patience and how to overcome unforeseen obstacles. Rat did just that.

I have gained a lot from this experience, and I am immensely grateful for this opportunity! If I have learned a single thing from this first project, it is that I cannot wait for the second project. I am looking forward to the challenges facing me in the upcoming weeks to come! Rat, don't fail me now!

Sniffy the virtual rat vs. Rat the live rat

Training with Sniffy was an invaluable experience. I was able to learn about magazine training multiple times (as I restarted the program), shaping, and different reinforcement schedules. Similarities abounded but so too did differences. The major thing that stood out to me was the difference in timing between Sniffy and Rat.

Magazine training with Sniffy was painfully long, almost to the point of discouraging any hope of rapid progress. Maybe it was because of the expectations that Sniffy instilled, but magazine training with Rat was comparatively simple. It took almost no time at all, and within a few minutes (as opposed to nearly a hour), Rat was magazined trained.

Shaping was also comparatively simple, to a degree that is. Unlike Sniffy, who roamed all throughout the box and who would go back to the magazine to receive reinforcement when the "click" was heard, Rat stayed right by the one wall. She never wondered much at all, and it was easy to have to go to the bar. Unlike Sniffy, I never had to reinforce rearing behavior. With Rat, I would reinforce her when she was in the vicinity of the bar, then when she was at the bar, then when she sniffed the bar, when she touched the bar, when she had one paw on the bar, and two paws. It was an absolute breeze. Now here is when the major difference comes up: Rat WOULD NOT press the bar! She pressed it a few times by accident, but I couldn't get her to press the thing enough to elicit an association! It was simply painful watching her because I didn't want to extinct the behavior of being near or on the bar. Eventually Rat picked it up and quickly progressed.

The rate of progression for Rat was great, and I was constantly rewarded whenever she would press the bar or improve on her previous training session. Although she was quick to learn and quick to progress her learning, she was not even on the same planet as Sniffy. Within a few days of training, Sniffy was able to press the bar 50 times (nearly all in a row) with not noticeable PRP. I thought this was a little unrealistic, but if magazine training took a long time, maybe Rat would be even quicker, right? Totally wrong. Although Rat did max out the program at FR20, she was barely half way to FR50, like Sniffy.

I think Sniffy was an extremely helpful tool. But it was just that: a tool. Sniffy definitely was not an adequate replacement for an actual rat, and there were things built into the program that were completely unrealistic. That being said, I am extremely glad I was able to experiment with Sniffy before training a live rat. 

Sniffy Training

Training sniffy was definitely interesting. The graphs depicting Sniffy's associations with the sound and food, the bar sound, and the action strength of the desired behavior was extremely helpful in learning the steps for training and for grasping the notion of how training and learning occurs. One thing that I found frustrating, to say the least, was the required level of each bar before moving on to the next step. Although I can understand the principles behind why the programmers would have it that way (to truly mash it into our brains), it nevertheless was frustrating.

That being said, magazine training took much longer than I anticipated (nearly three quarters of an hour). Although it seemed like Sniffy had clearly built an association between the magazine and reinforcement, the program refused to believe it saying something along the lines of, "you're nearly there. Keep going and Sniffy will have a strong association so you can move on."Other than the time it took to magazine train Sniffy, the process was simple, and I was quite pleased by her progress (my own little reinforcement).

When it came to shaping, I was again shocked -- this time for the opposite reason. It took Sniffy only a few minutes before she was pressing the bar. The difference in times it took for magazine training to be completed and before her first bar press was striking and truly stunning. All I simply did was reinforce Sniffy when she was near the wall with the bar. I also reinforced her when she reared in the air, regardless of where she was in the box. Soon enough she was rearing only on the wall with the bar after I was more exclusive in my rewarding. After she pressed the bar a few times, she caught on extremely quickly, and from there on out, I only reinforced her when she pressed the bar. The ease of shaping and the speed at which she began pressing the bar gave me the false belief that Rat would be equally as easy.

Moving from CR (FR1) to FR2 was simple with almost no lag. I quickly went to FR3, FR5, FR10, etc. at an extremely fast rate of progress. Within a day or two (while also experimenting with different VRs), I had Sniffy doing an FR50. It quickly became like a game to me, seeing how I could manipulate Sniffy's behavior.

Although I did use the book as a guide, I took a much more organic approach to Sniffy. I would raise the frequency necessary to achieve a reward; I would change from FR to VR back to FR to FI to VI and repeat the process just to see how each schedule would effect behavior and how the cumulative record would reflect that. I ended up extincting Sniffy multiple times just for fun, only to bring her back to ratio schedules in the 40s or 50s.

Sniffy was not only a fun experience, but it was an extremely useful and interactive tool. I was able to get a grasp on how operant conditioning works and how different schedules at different rates (of time and ratio) influenced behavior. I am very glad that I worked with Sniffy as much as I did before training Rat.

Obstacles

Although Rat was extremely compliant and very easy to work with, there were still some obstacles. Probably the biggest had to do with extinction. During training, Rat was doing so well that I decided to continue training for an extra two days. This in itself made it more difficult to extinct her in the recommended two days. An additional confound was the fact that I was "jackpotting" her by doubling or even tripling her reinforcement for a job well done. This increased the probability that she would perform the action (i.e., pressing the bar) more consistently and more completely, in that I would only jackpot her when she pressed the bar an exceptional amount of times in a row. Unfortunately, this made extinction even harder.

The compounding effects of an additional two training days and jackpotting good behavior during the last few days of training made extinction even harder (not only for Rat but also me to watch her hard work be destroyed). Her first day of extinction proved to be largely ineffective, as the rate at which she pressed the bar barely decreased. The second day's results provided similar results, although she definitely was not pressing the bar quite as much. It still was not satisfactory in my eyes; she still was associating the bar with reinforcement, and that association was still very strong. In order to overcome these obstacles, I had to add a third extinction day. All in all, extinction was a hard process to watch; Rat worked so hard and very quickly learned what she needed to. Having all of that work nullified was simply a shame.

Pictures!

Don't mind me. I'm just holding my Rat.

I wonder what she thinks when she's in The Box...

Trying to escape

Almost there! Just a bit more!

Data Analysis and Overview

Using SPSS, I was able to analyze a wide range of data to find descriptive statistics as well as discover trends and progressions of such trends.

Weight

Although Rat weighed 232g initially, her target weight was set at 87% of her body weight (202g). Once the food deprivation state was complete, Rat's weight (M = 202.76, SD = 3.45) was adequately kept on target with the proper amount of food given per day (M = 7.81, SD = 2.04). There was slight variability in weight change per day but very little average change (M = -.38, SD = 4.96). Although variability existed in higher amounts than are ideal, the weight change per day varied nearly equally both ways, leading to an overall average weight that was extremely close to the target weight, nullifying the concerns of variability.

Weight Change as a Function of Food Given

Performance

By excluding shaping sessions, it is possible to view Rat's performance (i.e., the number of times she pressed the bar) from FR1 to FR20 and through to the end of her third extinction session. Her performance (M = 224.07, SD = 89.59) was quite impressive, and her variance shows the amount of improvement that she showed over time with a range from 99 to 404 bar presses. Rat's performance was facilitated by the use of reinforcements over the length of the training session (M = 28.33, SD = 32.16) and ranged from zero to 135 reinforcements. When compared to the minimum number of bar presses, the high maximum number of bar presses shows how quickly she progressed (y = 8.91x + 152.75) with a decreasing number of reinforcements (y = -5.17x + 69.71).

Reinforcement as related to Bar Presses

Day 18 - Extinction

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 25 (Extinction)
Event 1 Total: 121
Reinforcement Total: 0
Goal: Under 100 bar presses
Goal Reached: No

05:00 - 19 : 19
10:00 - 70 : 51
15:00 - 73 : 3
20:00 - 77 : 4
25:00 - 81 : 4
30:00 - 121 : 40


1:30 - Rat initially went to the bar and had her paws on it without pressing down. She then wondered the box, sniffed the magazine (very briefly), and wondered a bit.

2:45 - First true pressing "session" (more than one at a time) of 5 presses. She is grooming more often and sniffing, but not chewing or scratching, the magazine.

5:00 - Second session of 8 presses; she is starting to chew and scratch the magazine again but with less effort than on Day 17.

8:00 - Sessions are consistently lasting around 5 presses. It seems as if her association between the bar and the reinforcement treat is decreasing, but she still strongly associates the magazine with reinforcement.

9:00 - Long session with ~10 presses, 5 second pause, ~10 presses

Time breakdown: 1/2 wondering, grooming, 1/4 standing still, 1/4 sniffing, scratching, or chewing magazine and pressing bar

12:45 - It took 2:45 for her to press once and only once; she immediately started grooming to calm herself.

14:45 - Another 2:00 passed before one and only one bar press occurred. She immediately went to check the magazine. After doing this again, she slowly wondered away.

16:30 - She is spending more time on the wall with the door looking out and rearing up than on the magazine-and-bar wall. It seems as if she is truly starting to become extinct - to have her slate wiped clean, if you will

Time breakdown: 3/4 looking at, sniffing, and rearing on the door, 1/8 grooming, 1/8 looking at, standing by, or sniffing the magazine (but no chewing or scratching). She seems to be forgetting her previous association between the magazine and reinforcement.

23:00 - Took ~8:15 before a single bar press followed by a sniff of the magazine and ~0:45 before another single bar press.

25:00 - Session lasted only 2 presses with ~5 seconds between press and only ~5 seconds of sniffing the magazine after each press.

26:15 - Two scratches of the magazine followed by a single bar press. She is no longer grooming herself (and hasn't been for the past ~10 min) after pressing the bar. She is no longer becoming frustrated after pressing the bar and apparently does not feel the need to groom to calm herself after each failed press.

29:00 - Session of 7, sniff; 4, sniff; 5, sniff; 13, sniff; 4, sniff; 6, sniff

With the exception of the burst at the end, I think you can fully consider Rat extinct. Again, with the exception of the last 3:45, she exhibited little regard toward the bar or magazine, and the amount of time she spend even at the magazine (whether it be sniffing, scratching, or chewing) decreased drastically.

Day 17 - Extinction

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 25 (Extinction)
Event 1 Total: 185
Reinforcement Total: 0
Goal: Under 200 bar presses
Goal Reached: Yes

05:00 - 47 : 47
10:00 - 73 : 26
15:00 - 119 : 46
20:00 - 159 : 40
25:00 - 180 : 21
30:00 - 185 : 5


2:45 - Initially Rat wondered the box and only pressed the bar once, but then after going to the magazine, she ended up pressing the bar ~15 times in a row.

5:00 - So far she has only had three bar-pressing "sessions;" the number of sessions in decreasing with time, but the number of presses per session is staying consistent. The rate at which the time interval between sessions is increasing is pleasing. Hopefully the number of presses per session will decrease as well.

8:15 - Fourth session. Almost all of her time is spent at the magazine, although she is beginning to spend more time wondering the box.

12:00 - Time breakdown: 3/4 at magazine, 1/8 on bar, 1/8 wondering box and grooming. Presses per session have dropped from ~15 to ~8.

15:30 - Within each session, the times between bar presses have increased from less than one second to 2-3 seconds.

17:45 - Rat is not moving as quickly or as impulsively when she wants to press the bar (i.e., running over to and jumping on the bar). She is now walking at a normal pace towards it.

22:00 - More time is being spent standing next to the bar and magazine but facing away from it. Very little movement at all: no grooming, looking around, wondering - just standing.

24:15 - Session consisted of 2 presses spaced 2 seconds apart, a 10-15 second pause and another ~5 presses.

25:30 - Time breakdown: 1/3 not moving, 1/3 grooming and wondering, 1/6 at magazine (but not chewing or scratching), 1/6 looking at, standing by, or pressing bar

28:30 - Time breakdown: 2/3 wondering, 1/6 not moving, 1/6 looking at bar or magazine (but not pressing, sniffing, chewing, pressing, etc.)


Today was a great step towards extinction, but I rapid progress wasn't observed until the last 10 minutes. I call it a step because I don't feel like she can be considered extinct yet. I very well might need an additional extinction session to be able to consider her fully extinct (this is probably due to the extra two training days I took with her).

Day 16 - Extinction

Time: 30:00

Protocol ID: 25 (Extinction)

Event 1 Total: 293

Reinforcement Total: 0

Goal: Under 250 bar presses

Goal Reached: No

05:00 - 45 : 45

10:00 - 80 : 35

15:00 - 139 : 59

20:00 - 174 : 35

25:00 - 224 : 50

30:00 - 293 : 69

Within 2 minutes rat pressed the bar 32 times, pressing it ~20 times in a row without searching for reinforcement. Soon after, she began to wonder the cage, groom herself, and explore/chew the magazine.

8:45 - Nearly all of the time is now spent chewing, clawing, and sniffing the magazine. Occasionally she will go to the bar and sniff around it, push up under it, put her paws on it without pressing, etc.

16:50 - The time between "pressing sessions" has increased, and the amount of presses per "session" has decreased to an average of 2.

20:00 - Pressing "session" consisted of 18 bar presses.

26:45 - She has been examining and pressing the bar continuously for the past ~2-3 minutes without paying any attention to the magazine. Prior to that, with the exception of a few "pressing sessions," she was spending all of her time at the magazine.

29:30 - She is starting to explore the entirety of the box and not paying any attention to the bar or magazine.

Day 15 - FR20

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 26 (FR20)
Event 1 Total: 283
Reinforcement Total: 14 +8 bonus reinforcements
Goal: Press bar 350+ times without jackpot reinforcement
Goal Reached: No

For the first 3 minutes only 2 bar presses were recorded. Unusual behavior so far considering her behavior and improvement last time.

Last time by the 6 min mark she had passed the 100 bar-press mark. By 8:30 she has only pressed the bar 30 times. I'm completely unsure of her behavior, and it's frankly beginning to concern me.

9:30 - nearly all of her time has been spend exploring the magazine and almost no time around the bar at all much less pressing it. It seems as if she has already been extincted.

11:00 - 37 bar presses. Intense grooming and exploring the magazine (but not putting much effort/time into it); it's as if she has no energy or will.

12:45 - 7 bar presses in a row. She's getting back on track, but this is still extremely slow progress.

17:25 - Crossed the 100 bar-press mark. Finally.

I have company in the lab today, and I can only assume that this is the reason for her poor performance.

Due to her poor performance, I've been forced to jackpot her in order to attempt to increase her Event 1 total.

21:15 - 11 par presses in a row. By 21:30 she had completed the 20 necessary for the program. This is more like Rat.

24:30 - Crossed the 200 bar-press mark. Slowly getting back on track.

26:30 - I think I may have pushed her too hard, too fast. Although she is beginning to perform like her usual self, Rat is still going much slower than I would like.

Day 14 - FR20

Time: 29:14
Protocol ID: 26 (FR20)
Event 1 Total: 404
Reinforcement Total: 20 +10 Bonus
Goal: 400+ bar presses; Press bar 10 consecutive times
Goal Reached: Yes; Yes (13 times)

Before I had even closed the lid on the box, Rat was at it pressing the bar.

As with the last session, I am going to "jackpot" Rat, although I will not be quite as liberal as I was last session. By doing this, I am continuously reinforcing her for every 20th bar press and also placing her on a variable (very subjective) schedule for double reinforcement. This, I hypothesize, will cut down on PRP times.

4:45 - The amount of time spent exploring the magazine has increased over last session. She has also started chewing (to the point of being audible) the magazine.

6:00 - Crossed the 100 bar-press mark; PRPs are lasting mere seconds (5-10)

12:32 - Crossed the 200 bar-press mark; time exploring magazine has decreased; PRPs increased to 10-15 seconds

17:27 - She is continuing to transfer her weight quickly from side to side and press the bar with each paw at a time. Unfortunately, she generally only presses the bar 5-6 times in a row, although she has pressed it far more on occasion. She is also pressing the bar much harder, as I can see the entire mechanism on the back of the operant box move occasionally (and not just the bar).

20:00 - Crossed the 300 bar-press mark; PRP times are down again to roughly 10 seconds.

21:50 - Her actions are much quicker and she will groom herself, look into the magazine, turn her attention away from the wall with the bar and magazine, etc. for only a second or two.

22:00-24:30 - A campus policeman came into the room and was asking questions and put his face close to the box. Rat immediately froze for ~15 seconds before wondering the box and not going near either the bar or the magazine. Within 20 seconds after he left, she was back to pressing the bar.

27:45 - PRPs are increasing to roughly 15-20 seconds again. The event with the campus policeman must have really distracted her because her behavior has slowed.

28:55 - Crossed the 400 bar-press mark

Again, I am impressed at Rat's progress. She has accomplished far more than I would have expected, and although I only gave her an extra day of training, she has exhausted the Graphic State program's highest and most stringent protocol. WELL DONE, RAT! I'm not looking forward to extincting you just yet; it'll be a shame to watch your steep learning curve dramatically stop (and not by your own abilities).

After the training session, when I went to weigh and feed Rat, I noticed the behavior of the rats was much different, especially among those on "free feed." Then I noticed what they were doing; they were breaking off small portions of food and burying it as best they could. This survival instinct was amazing to watch since it is so controllable in a lab.

Day 13 - FR15

Time: 30:00

Protocol ID: 23 (FR15)

Event 1 Total: 376

Reinforcement Total: 25 +17 bonus jackpot

Goal: 250+ bar presses; Press bar 8 consecutive times

Goal Reached: Yes!; Yes! (14 times in a row)

Although Rat did well on FR12 and VR12, I'm a little nervous about this jump to FR15 today.

Before I had even closed the door, she was already on the bar (albeit she didn't press it). First press was ~1:30 (later than usual).

Initially spent about 2:00 exploring the box; she has never done this before other than when shaping and maybe FR1. First series of bar presses was 5 in a row. Second series of bar presses was 14 in a row!

To keep her enthused, I am going to start "jackpoting" her (as mentioned by Pryor), giving two or three reinforcements at a time, if she presses the bar 5 or more times in a row to conclude the 15 total needed without "exploring" the magazine.

By "jackpoting" her, I am hoping to reinforce not only pressing the bar 15 times but doing so quickly. In order to get across what I want her to do, I am being very liberal in awarding "jackpot" reinforcements.

Pattern is emerging: after reinforcement she will press the bar 6-8 times, pause & look at the magazine, press until 12-14 times total, explore the magazine, press the remaining number of times necessary. Repeat.

She will occasionally double, triple, or even quadruple press the bar, shifting her weight from right to left quickly

I AM THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED. This is the absolute best she has ever done. I am going to have to go an extra three or so days before I extinct her. Neither she nor I am ready to be finished yet!

Day 12 - VR12

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 17 (VR12)
Event 1 Total: 254
Reinforcement Total: 21
Goal: 200+ bar presses; over 20 reinforcements; press the bar 8 times in a row
Goal Reached: Yes; Yes; Yes

Slow responses initially. She will occasionally press the bar 4-5 times in a row consistently before checking for a reinforcement.

Both the time spent and number of times she explores the magazine have increased. She is spending nearly 2/3rds of her time doing a combination of exploring the magazine and trying to chew/look under the bar.

Attempts to crawl up/eat the magazine are becoming more desperate (subjectively) as there is much more vigor in each attempt.

After pressing the bar, searching for a reward, exploring the magazine, and pressing the bar again, she has engaged in thorough grooming (in order to calm herself since she is frustrated?).

Loud distraction and Rat froze and didn't respond for ~20 seconds.

Much improvement by the end as compared to the beginning. Even with distraction, she seems to still respond well, albeit slower.

Day 11 - FR12

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 22 (FR12)
Event 1 Total: ~230
Reinforcement Total: ~19
Goal: Maintain over 200 bar presses; press bar 8 times continuously
Goal Reached: Yes; No

Rat seems to be discouraged by the amount of times necessary to press the bar before being rewarded. Hopefully she doesn't interpret this as an extension schedule.

PRPs are much longer than previously observed.

Although the still will spend time at the magazine, she also will not try to crawl up nearly as much as before (in terms of number of attempts and time per attempt). Instead she will either look at it or keep her head and paws on the bar for an extended period of time.

Day 10 - FR10

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 21 (FR10)
Event 1 Total: 224
Reinforcement Total: 22
Goal: Maintain over 200 bar presses; press the bar 6 times continuously
Goal Reached: Yes at ~27:00; Yes at ~2:30

Although she has attempted to chew the bar in the past, she is more consistently doing so now.

Less time has been spent in/around the magazine and instead has been transferred to the bar itself. As opposed to spending lots of time trying to climb up the magazine or chew it, she now is trying to chew the bar.

Day 9 - FR7

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 20 (FR7)
Event 1 Total: 254
Reinforcement Total: 36
Goal: Reach over 200 bar presses
Goal Reached: Yes

Still roughly 1/2 of the time spent in the box is spent exploring the magazine. She has even gotten more comfortable rolling over while trying to reach her head up the magazine, rolling 3 times in the first 3 minutes.

She is much more likely to press the bar multiple (3-4+) times in a row, as opposed to pressing it once or twice and looking for a reward.

13:00 - Spending less time exploring magazine and more time pressing the bar multiple times in a row.
She seems to have strengthened the association of the bar and reinforcement and is starting to extinguish the chain of exploring the magazine, pressing the bar, and receiving reinforcement.

PRPs seem to last only 10-15 seconds. Also, when one does occur, she will generally press the bar once before taking a PRP.

Rarely, if ever, will she press the bar 7 times in a row. Usually, she will press 4-5 times in a row and search for a reinforcement before going back and finishing the ratio.

Day 8 - VR5

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 13 (VR5)
Event 1 Total: ~155
Reinforcement Total: ~31
Goal: Consistently stay at the bar pressing it until the reinforcement occurs.
Goal Reached: Yes

I decided to follow Pryor's advice of trying a variable ratio schedule before pushing on to a higher fixed ratio. Hopefully she will press the bar more consistently with fewer PRPs.

Still spending time exploring food magazine. A few times she has even flipped around while trying to reach her head up the magazine. This first happened on Day 6 but has become a more common occurrence.

Her time in the box has been separated roughly into: 1/2 on bar, 1/4 exploring magazine, 1/4 grooming and wondering around box.

14:00 - Three people were in the lab today talking, joking, and making noise. This visibly distracted Rat, and for a while she refused to move at all.

23:00 - The girls are still making an unreasonable amount of noise, but fortunately Rat seems to have habituated to them.

Although she is still sniffing under the bar and occasionally trying to chew it, both the number of times she has tried this, along with the amount of time she spends sniffing/chewing has decreased drastically.

Rat seems to have chained together the "exploring" of the magazine with the bar pressing in order to receive a reinforcement.

Day 7 - FR5

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 19 (FR5)
Event 1 Total: 200
Reinforcement Total: 40
Goal: Press the bar 5 times in a row without leaving the bar.
Goal Reached: Yes

Still spending a lot of time chewing/trying to crawl up the magazine. She is also exploring the box more and taking more and longer PRPs.

More than half of her time in the box is spent with her head in the magazine.

My goal for the day was met. She would stay on the bar and press 5 times in a row until the reinforcement occurred, then go back to the bar again. By the end of the session, she was no longer chewing on/trying to climb up the magazine.

Day 6 - FR5

Time: 30:00
Protocol ID: 19 (FR5)
Event 1 Total: 148
Reinforcement Total: 29
Goal: Press the bar five times in a row without searching for reinforcement
Goal Reached: No

Having issues distinguishing between pressing the bar and hovering over/on the bar without pressing it. She will occasionally sniff under the bar and attempt to chew it, but will then go above the bar and press it.

She has clearly associated the click of the bar with reinforcement, but she hasn't necessarily understood that the press needs to happen multiple times for reinforcement to occur (i.e., she will check the hopper after nearly every press of the bar).

She is spending lots of time trying to crawl up/eat the hopper, and she is also trying to eat the bar (something she hasn't done before today).

Each down-press lasts 1-2 seconds (she holds the bar down), and at each up-press of the bar she perks up. This has let me to believe that she associates the higher pitched click (up-press) with reinforcement but not the lower pitched down-press.

Day 5 - FR3

Time: 21:08
Protocol ID: 5 (FR3)
Event 1 Total: 99
Reinforcement Total: 33
Goal: Over 150 bar presses
Goal Reached: No

Since she pressed the lever 143 times on Day 4 of training, I decided to skip FR2 and go immediately to FR3.

Initially, she pressed the lever and looked for a reward. Because she wasn't used to the time schedule, she tried to climb up the feed magazine. At first she figured out that she should stay on the lever and press, wait to see if she gets rewarded, press again, wait, press again, receive reward.

Some intense grooming followed by exploring the box, not as many incidences of intense grooming as in previous sessions.

Potential slight regression. Occasionally she would touch/hover over bar without pressing it and still go search for reward after.

Half way through she would press, look for reward, press, look for reward, become bored and groom, explore, or try to climb up magazine. I think I may have made a mistake, and the transition from CR to FR3 absolutely needs FR2.

14:00 Press, look, press, press (consistently done 3-4 times in a row)
15:30 Press, press, look, press
19:00 Getting frustrated. Sometimes press, press, press. Other times press, press, climb up magazine, press

Still using paws + snout to press bar

Day 4 - CR (FR1)

Time: 30:00

Protocol ID: 3 (FR1)

Event 1 Total: ~135

Reinforcement Total: ~135

Goal: Over 75 bar presses

Goal Reached: Yes

Immediately pressed bar to begin with. Hovered over/on bar for the first ~10 times after pressed bar, soon learned hovering no longer warrants a reward.

During the first 5 min she tried to climb into magazine/eat the surrounding metal and plastic, but she soon made the association between pressing the lever and the reward. After she learned this, she stopped her exploration of the magazine.

A couple times will double press the bar, even when pellet dropped the first time. Accidentally paused the session for ~5 seconds while trying to change the Protocol ID from 3 to 4, and she pressed the bar ~5 times in quick secession to illicit a reward since she didn't hear the motor turn/pellet drop.

Multiple times she pressed the bar (I could hear the click), but the dispenser did not run and provide pellet.

Sometimes she will press her snout against the back of the lever where there is an opening, and it will elicit her a reward. This has stopped for the most part but will occasionally happen.

Day 3 - Shaping

Rat immediately came to the bar and pressed it five times within the first three minutes. This shocked me, and I was thinking that she very well could continue at a rate similar to this for the entire 30 minute session. Unfortunately this was not the case. It took her less than two minutes before her an additional bar press which was followed quickly by a second press. She progressed slowly after that and only pressed the bar once every few minutes up to 11:30, when she took a PRP that lasted roughly 16:15 (although with a break that long I doubt it can be considered a PRP).

It wasn't until after the 16+ minute pause/break that she pressed the bar again - 3 times in roughly 1:15. It was a shame to have to end the session after only 30 minutes because by the end I had so much faith that she would repeat her performance from the beginning of the session. As Prior says, this could very well be viewed as punishment; since there was one minute between her last press and the end of the session, though, I doubt she would think of it as such.

Day 2 - Shaping

The second day of training was still shaping. Rat progressed nicely and even pressed the bar five times. I was very happy and extremely satisfied with her progress. Although she only pressed the bar during the first 11-12 minutes and not after, she exhibited plenty of behavior that warranted reinforcement; she was fond of placing her paw(s) on the bar for extended periods of time (up to 15 seconds at a time) waiting for a reward but not quite understanding that she needed to press down on the bar.