The End

I really enjoyed working with my rat, Nala, throughout this experience. I love animals, but I did not think that working with a rat would be much fun. By the end of the training experience, I found myself looking forward to going to see Nala. I enjoyed observing her behavior throughout training. It was interesting to watch her learn things. You can see the moment that something clicks and that was a rewarding part of training. The only thing that I did not enjoy about the experience was that Nala did not learn to press the bar. This is not something that can be controlled for or improved upon. However, it would have been nice to see her complete the assignment. I wish that we had more time to work on the assignment. I would have liked to have continued to train Nala to see if she could eventually learn to press the lever. I was surprised by how smart Nala was. Before this experience, I did not think that rats were very intelligent animals. They seem like pretty simple creatures. Watching Nala learn things throughout training changed that. By the second day of me going in to feed Nala on my own, she knew when it was time to get food. She also learned very quickly that she could climb out of the cage when I wasn't paying close attention. Overall, this was a fun, unique experience that I am glad to have been a part of.

Nala vs Sniffy

Sniffy was much easier to train than a live rat. Sniffy's magazine training took about 15 minutes while Nala's training took 30 minutes. Sniffy's shaping took around an hour to complete. Nala did not complete shaping during thirteen 30 minute sessions. Magazine training went about the same for Sniffy and Nala. Nala would go near the magazine opening and be rewarded. She, like Sniffy, made the connection between the sound and the food. Shaping was very different for Nala. Sniffy's shaping did not take long. He went to the area with the bar much more frequently. Sniffy also immediately knew to press on the bar instead of just touching the bar. Nala did not go in the area with the bar a lot during the first half of training. She also did not rear up over the bar as much as Sniffy did. Once she learned to touch the bar, she did not know to press it like Sniffy did.

I think that I learned the basics of what training a rat in an operant box would be like from Sniffy. I think it was beneficial to practice timing reinforcements on Sniffy. The environment was also very controlled in the virtual world which allowed it to be easier to see what was happening. I learned a lot about how animals learn in different ways just like people do by training a live rat. You really get to see how much patience it takes to train someone/something a brand new behavior. I would recommend doing both the virtual rat training and the live rat training. They show both sides of the training experience, the perfect plan and the real world plan. I think that the two processes complimented each other and were mutually beneficial to me as a student.

Challenges

One challenge that Nala and I had was keeping her focused during a training session. As stated in previous posts, Nala was over excited in the operant box and did not want to eat the pellets or go near the bar. She would explore the box for the majority of the training time and pellets would pile up because she was not interested in eating them. After training with Dr. Trench, she said that I was training correctly. Nala was just an easily distracted rat who was a little skittish in the box. I tried to remedy this issue by putting the cover on the operant box to block out potential distractors. Looking back I wish I would have noticed her nervous behavior earlier. If I had gone to Dr. Trench sooner, I would have used the door to the operant box sooner. This extra time may have been what Nala needed to learn to press the bar. Nala seemed much more at ease after she got used to the cover being on the front of the box.

Nala's Diet Plan

This chart follows Nala's weight throughout her training. She was kept around 90% of her body weight (199g) to make the food pellets more reinforcing during training. After her training is over she will resume free feed where she will be able to eat as much as she wants. Napa's free feed began on 3/16.

No FR Schedules or Extinction

After 14 days of training, Nala never made it past shaping. She made significant progress during the last few sessions. She was putting her paws on the bar and biting the bar. She also made the connection that when she touched the bar with her paw she got a food pellet. She would place her paw on the bar and then turn her head expectantly toward the magazine opening waiting for food. However, she did not press the bar at all the last few sessions. Therefore, she was never put on a FR schedule. Nala also does not need to go through extinction (where you "un-train" a behavior) because she never learned to press the bar on her own. I believe that if given more time Nala would be able to learn to press the bar. Unfortunately our training time ran out.

Shaping with the Door

Goal: Block out some of the distractors to help Nala focus on pressing the bar.

Procedure: I placed Nala in the operant box. I then placed the door to the front of the box in it's place. At first, Nala seemed slightly frightened by having the door on. She was agitated and running around the operant box trying to find a way out. After the first few minutes, she seemed to settle down. I then proceeded to shape Nala by my original plan. Throughout the 30 minute session Nala seemed less distracted.

Results: Nala did not press the bar during the session. However, Nala seemed less distracted and continued to go the corner with the bar in it until the very end of the session. Nala also seemed more interested in the bar during this session. She was sniffing the bar and investigating the corner with the bar more frequently. Nala was reinforced 55 times throughout the session.

Discussion: I believe that the door on the operant box has helped with Nala's progress. Her endurance in staying on task was greatly increased. She seemed less agitated and more focused throughout the session. I am hopeful that training with the door from here on out will help Nala's progression toward pressing the bar.

This is the door that goes on the front of the operant box. As you can see it blocks out most of the distractors for Nala while she is in the box while still allowing me to be able to see inside. 

Training with Dr. Trench

Goal: After having several training days with Nala not go well, I decided to seek help from my professor. Dr. Trench asked me to describe what problems I had been having and then came to sit in on the train session with me.

Procedure: I went about the training session as usual. I wiped the operant box down and the placed Nala inside. Dr. Trench observed and helped train Nala during the 30 minute session. Nala pressed the bar once, but it was an accidental press. After approximately 15 minutes, Nala started to become uninterested in the bar. She found the front left corner of the operant box and spent the majority of the remaining time sniffing and exploring the corner. 

Results: Nala only pressed the bar one time during the 30 minute session. She also did not want to eat the pellets after about half of the session was done. Several pellets piled up because she would not eat them. 

Discussion: After watching Nala during a training session, Dr. Trench suggested that I put the door on the operant box. The door blocks out most of the sound and the line of sight into the room for Nala. There is a small window that the trainer can look through to see into the box. Dr. Trench said that Nala just seemed a little over excited and nervous in the box. This may be causing her to not want to eat the pellets. It also may contribute to the fact that Nala wants to explore the box more than she wants to get food pellets. The rats sit in a small box all day with nothing to do. The new environment that the operant box presents could be causing Nala to become easily distracted and unfocused on the task at hand.