Dogs Training Blog

A lab rat has been trained to press a lever. The rat was last fed 10 hours before the experimental session. When the rat is placed in the Skinner box it only presses the lever when the light above the lever is lit. Every fifth time the rat presses the lever, a food pellet drops into the food cup. The rat continues pressing the lever. i’m suppose to answer these questionsa. What is the response and is it being reinforced or punished? [1] b. What is the establishing operation in effect? [1] c. What is the discriminative stimulus? [1] d. What is the schedule of reinforcement? [1] However, this is the handout i am suppose to use to answer the above questions.CLASSICAL CONDITIONING LEARNING – relatively permanent changes in behavior due to experienceA.UNCONDITIONED REFLEXES – automatic, stereotyped responses to specific stimuli1.Reflex – the relation between a stimulus (S) and a response (R)2.A reflex is not just the response3.These reflexes are unlearnedA.ANTECEDENT STIMULUS – a stimulus that precedes the response it controlsB.RESPONSE – a defined unit of behavior selected for studyA.UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (US) – a stimulus that elicits a response in the absence of a special learning historyB.UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UR) – the response elicited by a USC.HABITUATION – a diminished responsiveness to an unconditional stimulus as a result of repeated exposures1 Is beneficial in that it prevents an organism from wasting time and energy in responding to potentially important but situationally irrelevant stimuli2.It involves a change in behavior due to experience3.The change is not permanent 4.It is stimulus specificCLASSICAL EXTINCTION – the Conditioned Stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with the Unconditioned Stimulus. [The result is a progressively diminished Conditioned Response that will eventually fail to appear].THE PROCESS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING – learning a reflexA.STIMULUS-STIMULUS PAIRING – an arrangement in which some other stimulus reliably and more-or-less immediately precedes a US1.Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – the stimulus paired with a US2.Neutral Stimulus (NS) – what the CS is called before it is paired with a US3.Conditioned Response (CR) – the response elicited by the CS after the CS has been reliably paired with a USA.CONDITIONED REFLEX – a learned relation in which a CS comes, through respondent conditioning, to control a CR1.The stimulus to be established as a CS is presented several times to demonstrate that it is a neutral stimulus (it does not elicit a response similar to the UR of interest) before being paired with the US2.The NS is paired repeatedly with the US, which establishes the NS as a CS.3.The CS is presented without the US in a test of whether the CS elicits a CR. If so, respondent conditioning has occurredOPERANT CONDITIONING TERMSOPERANT BEHAVIOR – behavior that is primarily controlled by its consequences ( the changes in the environment that it produces. ).SHAPING – reinforcing successive approximations of the desired responseREINFORCERS AND PUNISHERS only behaviors are punished or reinforced, not the organismREINFORCER – A stimulus change that strengthens the response it followsPUNISHER – A stimulus change that weakens the response it followsPRIMARY REINFORCER – a reinforcer that strengthens behavior without any prior learning history. Examples: food, sex, a change in temperature from uncomfortably cool to warm (or uncomfortably warm to cool), and water. SECONDARY REINFORCEMENT – a reinforcer that strengthens behavior because, in the past, it has been paired with a primary reinforcer. For example, if you are training your dog to roll over, and you are reinforcing rolling over by giving your dog food for doing so, you might snap your fingers while you are giving your dog food. After you do this enough times, you will be able to strengthen the roll over response by snapping your fingers.SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT – the four basic schedules of reinforcementFIXED RATIO (FR) – every N response is reinforced. For example, on an FR 5 schedule, every fifth response is reinforcedFIXED INTERVAL (FI) – reinforce the first response after a predetermined amount of time passes. VARIABLE RATIO (VR) – the ratio (number of responses) necessary to complete in order to earn reinforcement varies but is delivered on the average of N responses. For example, a VR 5 schedule reinforcement is delivered on the average of every five responses. Therefore, it may take between 1 and 9 responses for the subject to earn a reinforcerVARIABLE INTERVAL (VI) — the amount of time that passes before a response is reinforced varies on the average of T time. For example, a VI 30 second schedule, reinforcement is delivered for the first response after a period of time passes that averages out to be 30 seconds. Therefore, the first response that follows 1 sec

More: continued here