This is me, everyday, trying to train my rat for an hour, watching it in the "skinner box" and waiting for it to press the bar so I can push a botton and give it a pellet of food.
watching intently...
I have a rat. My whole Pyschology class does actually. We've had it for about a month and a half now and we've had to work with it for about an hour each day training it to do a number of things. It's really frusterating too but this week, on Wednesday night, I had a break through and I called my mom right away, freaking out with excitment. We have to train our rats that pressing a bar will give them food. When they press the bar, we push a button that releases a pellet of food and then they eat..but the only way they eat is if they press the bar. Eventually we have to get our rat to press the bar 50 times for a single pellet of food. It takes forever to get the rat to understand that a bar press will get them food but once she figures it out they start pressing the bar wildly. It's so great... My rat is finally pressing the bar, then eating the pellet, then pressing then eating, pressing, eating, pressing, eating.. then pressing 10 times, then eating one pellet and over again until I train it up to 50 bar presses. Then we have to teach it something else... I named my rat Snarky though and this is the funny thing: my mom had this same project many years ago when she went to this college and she even had the same teacher I have, Dr. Rulon. I'm being taught by the same man who taught my mom General Psychology! So on Wednesday, when my rat was finally getting it, there was no better person to call then my mother. She knew what it was like to underestimate the rat and experience compleate surprise and excitment when it started pressing the bar. :)
I filmed me coaching my rat and pressing the bar... I'll see if I can upload it to UTube and post it :)
9 comments:
Cong-RAT-ulations...!
Hey, does Dr. Rulon give out chocolate to whoever trains their rat first?
I always wondered who really was the rat in that scenario...
Students training rats for chocolate and grades....
Versus rats pressing bars for pellets of food.
really? he can live in st. elmo?
oh this makes me happy.
But the eagles will go hungry...
"Snarky"? That is HILARIOUS!
It's seems like that would be really frustraiting to try to get the rat to do what you wanted him to. I don't know if I have the patience for rats, but YOU my dear did it!
Your project makes me think how people always say that babies aren't so smart, they can't think at young ages, blah, blah, blah. If a rat can be trained to press a bar for food, I fully believe a baby has to be smarter then a rat. Maybe that can be your next psych project?
--the old skinner box--we used mice in adv. bio in my high school
I'm glad you are having a good time!!
I miss you--
It would be scary if you had the same TA too. Haha.
TA??
Wow Sienna that is soooo Cool!
but hey i wanted to tell kyrie that rachel has a blogger now and if you wanna check it out goto my blogger and i have a link to hers on there! And if you wanna check it out to sienna of course you can,haha . Alright cant wait to see you all on Thanksgiving break!
i love snarky!!!!!
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