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CyberRat Experiment 4

Faculty of Education, Western University

9460A: Basic Behaviour Principles

Aicha Matar

November 10, 2020

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Cyber Rat Experiment 4

The purpose of this cyber rat lab is to understand shaping through “consequential

operations and the impact of Establishing operations on these consequential operations using the

cyber rat” (Ray, 2005). Shaping is defined as a discourse of treatment used to teach behaviors

that are yet to be learned and/or reach a desired behavior. In more detail, shaping is a method that

“ may be used to establish a response. This method involves the reinforcement of closer and

closer approximations to the final performance. For example, a rat may be reinforced for

standing in the vanity of a lever. Once the animal is reliably facing the lever, a movement of the

hear toward the bar is reinforced. Next, closer and closer approximations to pressing the lever are

reinforced. Each step of the procedure involves reinforcement of closer approximations and

nonreinforcements of more distant responses. Many novel forms of behavior may be shaped by

the method” ( Shaping, N.D) Hence, we understand this process through the modifications built

upon the operant through reinforcements to desired responses/ target behaviors. In brief the

process is used through differential reinforcement. As discussed in chapters 9 lecture, ‘Operant,

the selection of behavior’, the process of differential reinforcement “is provided for responses

that have a certain predetermined quality and reinforcement is withheld for responses that don’t

have that quality (extinction)” (Lee, 2020). The behavioral operations used in this lab are

Consequential Operations and Establishing operations. As described by Catania, consequential

operations is the stimulus presentation followed by response “response B has consequence C”

(Catania, 2013, Table 2-1). Consequential Operations and establishing operations within their

context work together. Establishing operations is defined through the operation that changes the

effect on consequence, “effectiveness of consequence I as a reinforcer or punisher is established”

(Catania, 2013, Table 2-1). For the purpose of this paper we are going to research if deprivation
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changes the rate of shaping? I predict the longer the deprivation the more effective the reinforcer

will be to shaping a target behavior.

Method

Participant(s)

- Jimbo271 (Lab rat)

o Weight 210 grams

o No training experience

- Zoya261 (Lab rat replica)

o Weight 200 grams

o No training experience

Setting:

Stage 1: N/A (Readings )

Stage 2 Part 1:

- Cyber Rat Virtual Chamber

- Deprivation: 23Hrs
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- Reinforcement: Manual Reinforcement with Bar Reinforcement on

- Objective: Bar Press

- Session control: Real time simulation with video on + Allow manual termination of

session

- Duration: 30 mins

Stage 2 Part 2:

- Once completed part 1 successfully, run part two in the following setting

o Reinforcement CRF

o Session control Fast stimulation video off

o Duration 60 min

Stage 3:

- Cyber Rat Virtual Chamber

- Deprivation: * change deprivation for each experiment*

o Test 1: 24 hours

o Test 2: 12 hours

o Test 3: 1 hour

- Reinforcement: CRF

- Session control: Fast stimulation with video off

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- Duration: 60 mins

Definition(s) of Target Behavior(s)

- Bar press: Rat pushes the bar down

o This is measured when the lab rat presses the bar down to get water reinforcer.

Procedure

The experiment was overall divided into three stages; one theory and two practical. The

theory aspect of it was based on a reading ‘Learning and conditioning Tutorials’ found in the

appendix topics which discusses an overview of shaping a target behavior.

The second stage of the experiment took us through the shaping procedure steps as

follows:

1. Select cyber Rat:

a. Select previous cyber rat.

i. Lab rat has been deprived from water for 23 hours

2. Setting:

a. Click on the participant then setting tab

b. Under the setting tab modify the reinforcement schedule to manual

reinforcement bar on.

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c. Session control: select real- time stimulation with video on and allow manual

termination of session so that you are able to manually shape the lab rat.

d. Duration: 30 minutes

3. Run the experiment

a. To run the experiment click on the experiment tab

b. To begin the shaping procedure, reinforce steps of approximation to the target

behavior by clicking manual reinforcement when the lab rat is near the water

press bar. This way the lab rat will learn to stay near the bar and gradually

learn to press the bar to receive the reinforcer.

c. Complete until the lab rat has been shaped to bar press for at least ten times

4. Maintenance (used as an effort to keep the condition of a state):

a. Run maintenance three times

b. Click CRF under the reinforcement tab for setting

c. Video stimulation off and a duration of 60 mins

The third stage of this experiment is to adjust deprivation. This is done just like the maintenance

steps except that the deprivation is different for the three experiments. We tested deprivation at

24hr, 12hr and 1hr. The first three fast stimulations were used to confirm stable bar press rates to

assess effective reinforcer. Moreover understand the setting in association to deprivation i.e.

manipulate conditions based on parameters.

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Results or Results and Discussion

The results uptrained from the experiment shows that deprivation time is indeed linked to

the rate of shaping. The results in both rats, figure 1 and 2, show that the highest number of

occurrences are in bar press experiments 1. In reference to the ‘basic behavioral operations’ chart

by Catania, the establishing operation of deprivation creates a stronger effect in shaping the

target behavior, bar pressing, because the reinforcer has been evoked. In addition, the rats

understood the behavior and consequence association through the consequential operation by

receiving the reinforcer upon pressing the bar. In reference back to my research question does

deprivation change the rate of shaping? I predicted the longer the deprivation the more effective

the reinforcer will be to shaping a target behavior. My hypothesis proved correct and is

demonstrated by the data trend. We see in both Jimbo and Zoya that the highest rate of

occurrences was in the longest deprivation of 24hr experiment in comparison to the 12hr and 1hr.

The previous experiment had allowed the rats to learn the sound + water stimulus through

magazine training. In this event, the target behavior begins an operant conditioning. The rats are

shaped to press the bar through successive approximations. We start by reinforcing when the rat

is near the bar and gradually to the target behavior. We also learned that having various schedules

of reinforcement is critical to establish a stimulus. The effect on shaping the bar press begins

with steps that lead to the target behavior such as rat looking, approaching, sniffing the bar and

eventually pressing. The differential reinforcements are used to reinforce approximations.

Satiation occurs when there is a reduction due to repeated reinforcements. This means the

operation changes the effect of consequence and can change effect of reinforcer. Referring back

to the lab, satiation can occur when the rat is given too much ‘free water drops’. If this happens,

then the rat will eventually stop drinking. This behavior is defined as by satiation. An alternative
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setting for satiation is in regard to the rate an animal reaches the satiation in the continuous

reinforcement schedule as practiced by Skinner is intermittent schedule (Ray, 2005). This

reinforcement is described by different frequencies of reinforcement. For instance, by using a

fixed interval schedule.

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References

Catania, A. C. (2013). Learning (5th ed.). Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing.

Ray, R. D., Belden, N. R., & Eckerman, D. A. (2005). Learning tutorial topics for CyberRat.

Winter Park, FL: (AI)2, Inc. Ray, R. D., & Miraglia, K. M. (2011). A sample of CyberRat

assignments and their pedagogical functions as experimental activities in a learning

course. Journal of Behavioral and Neuroscience Research, 9(2), 44-61.

Shaping, Www.scienceofbehavior.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2020, from

http://www.scienceofbehavior.com/lms/mod/glossary/view.php?id=408

Gabriele Lee. (2020). Chapter 9 Operant the selection of behavior . Western University.

https://owl.uwo.ca/access/content/group/6be188b3-b218-47e4-9fe5-

14557337aff8/Slides/Shaping%20and%20chaining.pdf
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Appendix. A

Figure 1. Jimbo

Figure 2. Zoya