Training Preparation (Sniffy)

In order to train Peaches properly we are using a program called Sniffy, the virtual rat.  This program provides us with some idea of how to magazine train, shape, reinforce, and extinction our real rats.  The first step of "Sniffy Training" is magazine training, which presents the food pellets, the primary reinforcer, in a way for Sniffy to learn to associate the sound of the magazine, the secondary reinforcer, with the availability of a food pellet in the food hopper.  So essentially every time Sniffy turned in the direction of the food hopper, which is placed in the middle of the operant box, I would hit my space bar so that a food pellet would be presented to her.  After a certain amount of time the program then proceeded to tell me that Sniffy had developed an association between the sound of the hopper and the food.  Once this happened I began the shaping process.  Shaping is a procedure used to train an animal to do something by reinforcing successful tries of the targeted behavior, getting Sniffy to press the bar.  In order to do this every time Sniffy reared up against the back wall no matter how close or far away she was from the hopper I had to reward her.  After she started to develop a Bar Sound and Action Strength Association, I created mental sections of the box, mean whenever Sniffy was in the certain section I would reinforce the behavior by providing a food pellet.  Soon after her bar sound association began to develop more and she was pressing the bar on her own.  Occasionally I would have to reinforce, but after a certain point Sniffy was pressing the bar at least 20 times during each 5-minute interval.  Here are some pictures...

The magazine training was pretty easy, I tried to take as many baby steps as I could.  A couple of times I pressed the bar when I shouldn't have just because of reflexes, but her Sound Food Association developed quickly.  It was more of the shaping that I had a difficult time with because I was never sure if I was reinforcing her rearing on the back wall enough, so since I was so unsure I started over.  The second time I started the shaping process I made sure to reinforce her rearing on any part of the back wall.  Once I saw that her bar sound and action strength were developing I created the mental sections in the box and limited my reinforcements.  Soon after that she was pressing the bar on her own and I was one proud mama!  The shaping process took me a little over an hour and a half just because I restarted.
Once I had shaped Sniffy properly, meaning she was pressing the bar on her own at least 20 times every 5-minute interval, I put her on a variable-interval (VI) of 20 seconds schedule.  This is a type of reinforcement scheduling which provides a time interval following reinforcement that must pass before the next response is reinforced.  I decided to do a time interval of 20 seconds.  At first Sniffy was pressing the bar and expecting food, but when it didn't come she continued to press the bar multiple times then stopped to check for food.  Sniffy seemed to get a little frustrated if food wouldn't appear after pressing the bar several times since she was so used to getting food after every single time she pressed the bar.  If a food pellet was not presented she continued to press the bar until she heard that sound.  This continued for a good amount of time, then once Sniffy realized that food wasn't coming out of the hopper every time she pressed the bar she started to walk around the box more like she did when she was being magazine trained.  Time continued to pass and she developed a slow steady response to the variable-interval schedule.
After going through this process I feel much more comfortable and confident in being able to train Peaches properly.  I know I can't sit around for hours feeding Peaches like I could for Sniffy, but I believe I have a much better feel for what I will have to do in comparison to not using the program at all.  Tomorrow is the beginning of training for Peaches and I'm so excited!