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Sniffy and the Operant Chamber:
An Operant Conditioning Virtual Simulation

Nicholas Seet Wei Kiat

ID: 13515197

James Cook University

Abstract

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The Sniffy program is designed specifically for the learning of operant conditioning methods. The program includes a virtual rat named Sniffy and a virtual operant chamber where any conditioning would take place. In the experiment, a class of students were chosen for the experiment and was instructed to be done in pairs where they were given very clear instructions to the step by step process of how to carry out the experiment. Students were then asked to observe Sniffy’s behaviours and record down specific data relating to the dependent variable of bar pressing behaviour. This paper summarizes details about the Sniffy program as well as the many steps for conducting operant conditioning with Sniffy.

Keywords: Sniffy, Virtual, Operant Conditioning, Skinner, Bar Pressing.

Sniffy and the Operant Chamber:
An Operant Conditioning Virtual Simulation

Behaviour is often influenced by learning which can occur in many ways. Two of the most important and well-known ways in psychology are classical and operant conditioning (Hahn, 2013).While the experiment (Pavlov’s dogs experiment) to learn about classical conditioning, which is learning through the process of association (Pavlov, 1977), is no longer ethical, the experiment to learn about operant conditioning is able to be conducted ethically today. Ideally, the method to learn about operant conditioning would be to use a live mouse in a real operant chamber. However, due to several constraints of most universities, this method is just not practical. This is where the Sniffy program comes in. It is a virtual simulation program with a virtual rat named “Sniffy”, that imitates many of the behaviours one would observe in a real rat learning to operate in the controlled environment of an operant chamber (Graham, Alloway, &Krames, 1994), without the need to worry about any ethical or financial constraints.

Also known as the “Skinner box”, the operant chamber that was constructed by B. F. Skinner while developing the laws of operant conditioning in 1930, deprives an animal of all stimuli other than those under the control of the experimenter (Skinner, 1935). Operant conditioning can be described as a process that attempts to modify behaviour through the use of positive and negative reinforcement (Skinner, 1938). These modified behaviours through operant conditioning are called operant behaviours. Operant behaviours are behaviours that occur spontaneously (naturally). In the context of the Sniffy program, Sniffy has an entire repertoire of possible operant behaviours such as standing up against the wall, walking around, cleaning its genitals, scratching its ears or even occasionally pressing the bar mounted on the wall. These are all spontaneous behaviours that do not occur as an automatic response to any stimuli. Utilizing the Sniffy program, we are able to train Sniffy’soperant behaviours to demonstrate learning through basic operant conditioning procedures that includes the establishment of baseline behaviours (spontaneous), magazine training, shaping, acquisition (learning) and extinction. The aim of the experiment would be to establish a conditioned behaviour in Sniffy.

Methodology

The experiment was conducted with a class of undergraduate psychology students (n=16) chosen through convenience sampling. The group consisted of mixed demographics. All the participants completed the experiment. The students were instructed to work in pairs operating a single Sniffy program on a computer for each pair. Each student in each group was instructed to undertake different tasks from the start of the experiment, where one would record data and the other would operate the program. The experiment’s independent variable would be the different operant behaviours to be reinforced and the dependent variable would be the total cumulative bar presses. Alldata for each Sniffy program was instructed to be recorded manually on paper. Students were asked to follow specific steps given to each pair to stimulate a live rat experiment. There were 5 steps in total, Observation, Magazine training, Shaping, Conditioning and Extinction. With 2 optional steps, Spontaneous recovery and Other reinforcement schedule, if the students had extra time after the mandatory first 5 steps.The experiment was completed under the supervision of the tutor assigned to the class.

Procedure

The experiment consisted of 5 mandatory steps. Beginning with Observation, that required students to first observe Sniffy’s behaviour for 3 minutes. Recording all actions made by Sniffy that must be described accurately and recorded continuously (clean genitals, standing up on hind legs, etc). All data recorded are to be summarized by indicating manually the number of different behaviours observed and which were the most frequent, along with the frequency of each behaviour observed (See table 7). Special attention is to be given to the actions of merely touching the bar and actually pressing it, which would produce a click sound from the apparatus. A cumulative response data would be recorded for this step (See table 8).

After the 3-minute timing has elapsed, it is then time to begin the magazine training phase. Students are asked to deliver a food pellet (positive reinforcer) whenever Sniffy is relatively inactive, one pellet at a time. After Sniffy has consumed the pellet and has left the magazine area, but not too far away, students are instructed to deliver the next pellet. Students are instructed to continue this procedure until the magazine approach behaviour is well established. Synology ip camera license keygen download. Students were then asked to record down the cumulative frequency of reinforcement consumption (See table 9).

Once magazine training is successfully completed, the next step for Shaping can begin. Students are instructed to start by repeating the previous reinforcement steps again. However, this time starting with the behaviour when Sniffy faces the bar, and then again when Sniffy is getting nearer to the bar, until Sniffy is literally in front of the bar. Then begin to require Sniffy to stand up near the bar before delivering the reinforcement, gradually requiring Sniffy to touch the bar and then actually press on it before delivering the reinforcement. Students were asked to keep a cumulative minute-by-minute record of all the behaviours reinforced during this procedure of Shaping (See table 10). Students were asked to continue this procedure until they have an entire minute of all true bar presses, keeping in mind that “almost-bar-presses” are not considered true bar presses.

Once an entire minute of all true bar presses is achieved, students were then instructed to begin the Conditioning procedure. In this step of the experiment, students were asked to set the apparatus to deliver the reinforcement whenever the bar is pressed to simulate a continuous reinforcement schedule (CRF) for the duration of 20 minutes. Students were then asked to keep a minute-by-minute cumulative record of all bar presses during the duration of the CRF (See table 11). Once Sniffy has consumed the last reinforcement, students were asked to stop the conditioning.

At this point, Sniffy would be fully conditioned and the last procedure of extinction may begin. Students were instructed to select the “Experiment” command in the Sniffy program, before selecting the “Design Operant Experiment” command. Then clicking on the “Extinction” checkbox to toggle the Extinction process for Sniffy, effectively ending the experiment.

This study focuses on a specific pair of students randomly selected to reflect the data presented for thispaper.

Results

From the first step in the experiment, a total of 6 different behaviours were recorded, “cleaning genitals”, “standing on hind legs”, “poking nose into the corner”, “bar touching”, “bar pressing” and “sticking nose into hopper”. The most frequent behaviours exhibited by Sniffy was “standing on hind legs” and “cleaning genitals”with a total of 15 “standing on hind legs”(M=5, SD=3.46) and 28 “cleaning genitals” actions(M=9.33, SD=2.52). A single bar touch was recorded for each minute with a cumulative total of 3 bar touches. No bar presses were recorded for the first minute, a single bar press was recorded for the second minute and 2 bar presses was recorded for the third minute, with a cumulative total of 3 (Refer to Appendix A). At this stage, Sniffy exhibited grooming behaviour the most frequently.

Figure 9. The frequency of cumulative bar presses from magazine training to extinction.

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The magazine training phase took 10 minutes.The total reinforcement consumption had a cumulative total of 60consumptions (M=6, SD=1.89).

The Shaping phase took 6 minutes. The behaviours reinforced during the Shaping phase was “facing the bar”, “near the bar”, “stand up near bar”, “touch bar” and “press bar”. The behaviours had a cumulative total of 27 responses (M=5.4, SD=2.07).The behaviours of “facing the bar” and “near the bar” occurred during the first minute, “stand up near bar” occurred during the second and third minute, “touch bar” occurred during the fourth minute while “press bar” occurred during the fifth and sixth minute, with the entire final minute showing 4 true “press bar” actions. During this phase, Sniffy begins to engage in more rearing behaviours at the expense of grooming behaviours due to the conditioning that took place(Refer to Appendix B).

For the procedure of Conditioning, the CRF took 20 minutes. The frequency of bar presses had a cumulative total of 80 (M=4, SD=1.45). By this time in the experiment, Sniffy exhibits bar pressing behaviour the most frequent at the expense of all other behaviours in its repertoire(Refer to Appendix B).

In the last step required for the experiment (Extinction), Sniffy gradually stopped exhibiting the conditioned behaviour of “bar press” and started to slowly revert back to its normal behaviours that was present at baseline behaviour establishment phase, with the most frequent occurring behaviours of “cleaning genitals” and “standing on hind legs”. This step took 6 minutes in total before Sniffy’sreverted to its normal behaviours before conditioning(Refer to Appendix B).

The entire experiment from magazine training until extinction took a total of 42 minutes. There was a cumulative total of 160 cumulative bar presses (M=3.81, SD=2.22).

Discussion &Conclusion

The Sniffy program allows its user to control, manipulate and modify several aspects of the program to simulate operant conditioning according to the needs of the user(Graham, Alloway, &Krames, 1994). From the experiment conducted, operant conditioning can be observed from the data collected that shows a gradual increase in the reinforced behaviour of bar pressingwith a total of 160 cumulative bar presses (M=3.81, SD=2.22) along with a gradual decrease in other baseline operant behaviours that Sniffy exhibited before conditioning. Also presenting the phase of Extinction that comes after conditioning when the reinforcement is no longer presented. The Sniffy program proves to be an effective method of learning the aspects of operant conditioning, however, with many other phenomena in operant paradigms such as negative reinforcements, satiation or punishments, there seems to be a lot of other areas available for the Sniffy program to incorporate in the future for deeper understanding of operant conditioning through Sniffy and the virtual operant chamber.

References

Graham, J., Alloway, T., &Krames, L. (1994). Sniffy, the virtual rat: Simulated operant conditioning. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 26(2), 134-141.

Hahn, C. (2013). The differences and similarities between classical and operant conditioning. GRIN Verlag.

Pavlov, I. (1977). Classical conditioning. Learning and Instruction, 4, 26.

Skinner, B. F. (1935). Two types of conditioned reflex and a pseudo type. The Journal of General Psychology, 12(1), 66-77.

Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: an experimental analysis. Appleton-Century. New York.

Appendix A

Table 1.1

Behavioural Observations.

Table 1.2

Operant level of bar press response.

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Appendix B

Table 1.3

Magazine Training.

Table 1.4

Shaping the bar press response.

Table 1.5

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Development of the conditioned response.

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