FR10 (Graphs of presses/reinforcements per FR session)

Our Goal:
Today, our goal was to put Peaches on a FR10 schedule of reinforcement. (This is also her last day of fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement before we move her to variable schedule of reinforcement.)

A fixed ratio schedule is a reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is reinforced when it occurs a fixed number of times.  Therefore, Peaches has to press the lever at least 10 times before receiving a reinforcement.

Procedure:
The session started at 8:38 A.M and lasted 30 minutes.  This was the longest session so far in Peaches training.  Peaches pressed the lever 717 times and received 72 reinforcements.  She weighed 213.5 grams, 1.5 grams above her target weight.

Results:

Peaches successfully learned the FR10 schedule of reinforcement. Peaches had very rapid run rates, which is the time between the end of the last post-reinforcement pause and a reinforcement.  In her post-reinforcement pauses, which were longer compared to the previous sessions, she was rearing all over the box.  She would jump and try and climb out of the box because it was taking so long for her to get a reinforcement.  Peaches would go under and on top of the lever to see if that would give her a reinforcement faster.  Megan and I could see this desperation of having to get a reinforcement in her behavior more today than the previous sessions.

Peaches Trying to Get Out of Box

Peaches during FR10 schedule

(you can see her rearing around the box and how quickly she presses the lever in order to reach the reinforcement rate)

Cumulative Record for FR10

Discussion:

Peaches was more active during the entire training session, but during her run rates she was consistently pressing the lever in order to get a reinforcement.  Watching Peaches trying to get 10 lever presses was difficult for Megan and I because we didn't want Peaches to think that we didn't love her or want to reward her, but when we realized that we can't portray how we feel onto our rat. 

The fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement is complete so next week we move on to a variable schedule of reinforcement to see how Peaches will do on a different reinforcement schedule.  Peaches did incredibly well today!  Good Job Peaches!

Graph of Number of Presses per Training Session (FR Schedule)

Graph of Number of Reinforcements per Training Session (FR Schedule)

FR5 and FR7

Our Goal:
On September 25, our goal was to put Peaches on a FR5 schedule of reinforcement.  On September 26, our goal was to put Peaches on a FR7 schedule of reinforcement.

A fixed ratio schedule is a reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is reinforced when it occurs a fixed number of times.  Therefore, on a FR5 schedule Peaches will have to press the lever at least 5 times in order to get a reinforcement and on a FR7 schedule Peaches will have to press the lever at least 7 times in order to get a reinforcement.

Procedure:
On September 25, the FR5 session started at 8:41 A.M and lasted 20 minutes and 48 seconds.  Peaches pressed the lever 390 times and received 78 reinforcements.  She weighed 215.4 grams, 3.4 grams above her target weight.

On September 26, the FR7 session started at 8:48 A.M and lasted 27 minutes and 4 seconds.  Peaches pressed the lever 599 times and received 86 reinforcements.  She weighed 214.9 grams, 2.9 grams above her target weight.

Results:

During the FR5 session Peaches put her head to press the lever many times in a row, continuing to press the lever until she heard the magazine sound.  Occasionally she would check the food hopper in between presses in order to see if there was a reinforcement waiting for her, when she saw there was nothing there she would continue to press the lever until she reached the reinforcement rate.  Peaches had much longer post-reinforcement pauses (PRP), which is a pause after a reinforcement is received.  She would explore the box more, usually going up to the glass or in a corner.

Peaches Learning FR5

During the FR7 session Peaches did a lot of the same things from her previous session, she would press the lever continuously at a rapid rate until she heard the magazine, she would roam around the cage for longer periods of time, and she was rearing on all over the cage.  Multiple times she would rear in front of the lever, not pressing it, and she would rear in the middle of the cage.  Megan and I thought this was due to frustration of having to press the lever more times in order to get a reinforcement compared to previous sessions.  But one thing that was very clear in this session was the fact that it was much easier to see that Peaches couldn't predict the number of times she needed to press the lever in order to get a reinforcement.  She just knew that she needed to keep pressing the lever until she heard the sound of the magazine.

Peaches During FR7 Post-Reinforcement Pause

Peaches Learning FR7

Peaches successfully completed both FR5 and FR7 schedules of reinforcement.

Cumulative Record for FR5

Cumulative Record for FR7

(If you look and compare the records you can see the longer PRPs in FR7. This session also lasted longer due to the number of reinforcements we wanted Peaches to reach before the session could end.)

Discussion:
Peaches is progressing through FR schedule of reinforcement training very smoothly.  She doesn't seem to be having a problem realizing that after a couple presses if a reinforcement isn't there that she needs to continue pressing the lever until she hears the magazine sound.  She is being much more active in the box after she gets a reinforcement, roaming and rearing all over the box.  We will continue to FR10 and once that is completed Megan and I have decided that we want to put Peaches on a variable schedule before extinction.  Peaches is amazing and we are very proud of her :)

One Little Problem....

After our training session on September 20, Megan and I decided that we were going to give Peaches her food for both Friday, the 20th, and Saturday so one of us wouldn't have to come in early on a day we weren't training.  On Sunday, September 22, I went in to weigh and feed Peaches and saw that someone had fed her for Saturday, therefore Peaches got double her amount of food for two days.  When I weighed her on Sunday she was 207.5 grams, 4.5 grams under her target weight so I fed her 13.6 grams since she was loosing so much weight since our last training session.  On Monday, September 23, we went to weigh and feed Peaches and she weighed 222.2 grams, 10.2 grams above her target weight.  Megan and I believe that with the extra food she was given and the amount of food she was given on Sunday, she might have been hoarding some in the bottom of her cage which we were unable to see because the food blends in with the bed of her cage.  Luckily her vast weight gain didn't seem to effect her training, she still had plenty of room for all her sugar pellet reinforcers :)

weight chart on Friday, September 20

weight chart Monday, September 23

FR2 and FR3

Our Goal:
On September 23, Megan and I continued Peaches on a FR2 schedule due to the fact that Peaches was only on this schedule for 10 minutes in our last training session and we didn't want to move on before FR2 was fully completed.  On September 24, we proceeded to FR3 schedule.

A fixed ratio schedule is a reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is reinforced when it occurs a fixed number of times.  Therefore for FR3, Peaches had to learn that she needed to press the lever at least three times in order to get a reinforcement.

Procedure:
On September 23, the session started at 8:42 A.M, the session lasted for 22 minutes and 13 seconds.  Peaches pressed the lever 198 times and received 99 reinforcements.  She weighed 222.2 grams, 10.2 grams above her target weight.

On September 24, the session started at 8:45 A.M and lasted for 20 minutes and 35 seconds.  Peaches pressed the lever 290 times and received 97 reinforcements.  She weighed 217 grams, 5 grams above her target weight.

Results:
Peaches was placed in the FR2 schedule of reinforcement.  When she was placed into the operant box she headed straight for the lever and immediately began to press it twice.  She would press the bar two times in a row before going to the food hopper.  Throughout the session she would even press the bar three times.  She did seem to explore the box more compared to the FR1 schedule.

Peaches during FR2 schedule (you can even see Megan waving in the background :) )

Peaches was placed on the FR3 schedule, once in the box she immediately went to the lever.  She would press it once then look to see if there was a food pellet.  When there was no reinforcement she pressed the lever again and looked for a food pellet, saw that there was again no reinforcement and proceeded to press the lever a third time.  She then began to press the lever twice before looking in the food hopper, with no reinforcement she would press the lever once more.  Four minutes into the session she was pressing the bar 3 or more times in a row.  Peaches started to press the lever continuously even though she was hearing the magazine sound.  Throughout the session she was having longer post-reinforcement pauses, which is a pause that follows a reinforcement.  These usually occur because the animal is working so rapidly in order to get the reinforcement that it needs to take a "break".  The break consists of roaming and exploring the box, which Peaches tended to do more on the FR3 schedule compared to the FR2 schedule.

Peaches During Post-Reinforcement Pause

Peaches learning FR3

Peaches seem to adapt to both FR2 and FR3 schedules of reinforcement.

Cumulative Record for FR2 (Day 2)

Cumulative Record for FR3

Discussion:
By the end of both sessions she was pressing the lever two or three times in a row before she would approach the food hopper.  Peaches continues to excel in her training, it takes a little time for her to adapt to the new level of reinforcement but once she figures it out she will continuously press the lever until she hears the magazine.  One thing that was interesting though, in our FR3 session even though Peaches heard the magazine sound she continued to press the lever although food was in the hopper.  Megan and I didn't know what to think about that.  We knew she was fully trained to realize that when she heard the magazine food was in the hopper, but she seemed to continue just to collect a large amount of reinforcements at one time instead of just one after she met the reinforcement rate.  We shall see if this behavior continues during her next sessions.

FR1 and FR2 schedule of reinforcement

Our Goal:
To continue to shape Peaches and to put Peaches on a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement (FR1 and FR2).

A fixed ratio schedule is a reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is reinforced when it occurs a fixed number of times.  So for FR1 Peaches only had to hit the bar once in order to get reinforced, just like she did for shaping.  But for FR2 Peaches had to hit the bar twice in order to get a reinforcement.

Procedure:
Megan was the trainer today, the training session started at 8:36 A.M (FR1) and 8:52 A.M (FR2).  The FR1 session lasted 13 minutes and the FR2 session lasted 10 minutes and 36 seconds.  Peaches pressed the lever 89 times (FR1) and 95 times (FR2).  She got 4 reinforcers (FR1) and 0 reinforcers (FR2).

Results:
When Peaches was placed into the operant box she headed straight to the lever.  She was pressing the lever consistently with her head and paw, she was no longer biting the bar like she did during shaping.  She soon then began pressing the bar two times in a row, less than 5 minutes into the session she was at 31 presses.  Since Peaches was doing so well Megan and I decided to move her to an FR2 schedule.  We took her out of the operant box and set it up.  Once she was back in the box she once again went straight to the lever, she pressed the lever and looked for food, when she realized that nothing was there she immediately pressed the bar again.  She seemed to wander around the cage more, but after 2 minutes in the session she was pressing the lever two times in a row.  Within 6 minutes of the session she had 53 lever presses.

Peaches During FR2

Peaches was successfully shaped and completed two levels of fixed ratio schedule (FR1 and FR2).

FR1 Cumulative Record

FR2 Cumulative Record

Discussion:
Today was a very good training day, Peaches showed that she associated the sound of the magazine with food and had a strong bar sound association.  She broke her habit of biting the bar that she seemed to develop during shaping, now using her paw and head.  Even through out the day's session Peaches seemed to understand that if she used her paws more than her head she would be able to get her reinforcement more quickly.  Hopefully the two days off won't cause Peaches to take steps backwards.
She did an amazing job today, hopefully it continues successfully from here!