Operant conditioning experiments with digital rat Sniffy

Operant Conditioning and Classical Conditioning

Operant conditioning is a type of leaning defined by the relation between behavior of an individual or animal and stimuli that accompanies the behavior. Therefore, consequences of this leaning theory may affect behavior by decreasing or increasing it. There are four types of operant conditioning, they are as follows; positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction.

Positive reinforcement is where a given behavior is enforced by showing positive consequences. Negative reinforcement on the other hand, is a situation where a given behavior is enforced through the use of negative consequences. Punishment is also form of operant conditioning where a specific punishment is used to negate some behaviors, while Extinction entails the weakening of a particular behavior as a result of not experiencing a positive condition or stopping a negative condition. Operant conditioning experiment can be conducted by using a mouse caged in an operant chamber, but in this case, a realistic digital rat was used to run several punishments, which show a, relation between reward/punishment with a specific behavior (Andrzejewski, 2011). The following experiments were done to justify the operant conditioning theory.

Experiment. 1: Magazine training

This is a food-sound operant conditioning training where sniffy is taught to identify the sound of the magazine with availability of food pellet in the hopper. This is a positive reinforcement model of operant conditioning where the food pellets acts as the prize for responding to the magazine sound (Andrzejewski, 2011). The following are the steps carried out in this experiment;

When this experiment starts, sniffy is observed to determine the basic behavior exhibited which was to be tested. One of Sniffy's behaviors is the desire to eat. Therefore, as sniffy wanders around the operant chamber it is observed and when it approaches a food hopper, a pellet is dropped for it to eat.

The process is repeated again, and this time, before it wanders off, sniffy is given more pellets from the hopper. Then, let him wonder away for a while then give him more pellets of food. During that duration of the experiment, a close observation is put on the Operant Association mind window so as to note the changes in Sniffy's behavior.

In this experiment, sniffy was seen to be appropriately magazine trained when the vertical bar seen in the Operant Association Window, for the sound-food relationship reached its maximum level. At this stage, he could now respond to the food on hearing the sound of the magazine.

Response to the experiments

The previous analysis gives us a clear picture of how organisms learn. Operant conditioning uses rewards and punishment to modify the behavior of both animals and human being. Therefore, explaining how a person's behavior can be curved to fit a specific need.

The data exhibited concurs with the theoretical explanation given by the experiment. From the experiment conducted, sniffy exhibited signs of change in behavior as expected. The Operant Association mind window showed the extent at which change is being achieved in comparison to the driving force and the duration taken to achieve the desired change in behavior.

Sniffy's behavior is similar to that which is normally portrayed by a human being in the following ways. A human being is likely to change his/her behavior if there is evidence of a reward after doing what is required of him/her or a punishment when he/she does something not recommended. Operant conditioning is can be applied to all age groups but can mostly work well when applied while the subject is still young.