Magazine Training

Day 1 - Magazine Training - September 19, 2012

Goal:

            To magazine train my rat, Monica.  Magazine training is a form of classical conditioning in which I turn a previously neutral stimulus, the light/sound of the food magazine, into a secondary reinforcer.  My goal is to condition Monica to approach the food magazine each time she hears the sound and sees the light bulb flash.

Procedure:

            In the last week leading up to training, Monica was food deprived to almost 87% of her starting body weight.  Starting at 246 grams on September 12th, she had lost 33 grams, and weighed 213 grams at the end of her first training session on September 19th.  Each of my daily training sessions starts at 8:30 in the morning; however, since this was the first day, I trained with Dr. Trench at 2:30 during our weekly lab time.  To start magazine training, I pressed the hand switch when she was near the magazine.  I waited for her to eat the pellet, and then pressed the hand switch again.  This training continued for about 8 to 10 minutes until the power turned off.  Monica was removed from the operant box, so she would not get confused by not getting any reinforcement.  The power came back on quickly, and the session continued for 15 more minutes.  55 pellets were delivered in the second half of training, and approximately 20 pellets before the power went off.

Results:

            Monica spent a lot of time exploring the box today.  She sniffed the corners and reared up on the walls.  She exhibited a variety of behaviors during the session, which will be helpful in the shaping process.  I pressed the hand switch multiple times in a row when she was paying attention to the magazine in hope of speeding up the training. By the end of the session, she was paying more attention to the magazine than the rest of the box, but she would not immediately move to the magazine if she heard the sound while on the opposite side of the box.  Even though she was not trained to press the bar yet, Monica pressed the bar 6 times during the first training session.  Although this was just coincidence, I believe she will understand the association between the bar press and the food in no time!

Discussion:

            Because Monica does not respond to the light/sound of the food magazine every time she hears it, Monica has not completely mastered magazine training yet.  Monica’s behavior was similar to that of the virtual rat, Sniffy; however, Monica learned about the magazine much quicker than Sniffy.  This may have been because I had already had practice with Sniffy, Dr. Trench was coaching me through the process, or Monica is just super smart. (most likely the last).  I will continue at the beginning of the session tomorrow, but I will also begin to reinforce her when she turns her head to the left from the magazine in an attempt to shape her behavior.