The Fish Stick: An Easy-to-Use Classroom Training Apparatus for Fish

2010 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Miskovsky ◽  
Brittney Becker ◽  
Alleah Hilker ◽  
Charles I. Abramson
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Control ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Classroom Training ◽  
Training Apparatus ◽  
Psychology Of Learning

The fish stick is an easy-to-use device for conditioning fish under classroom conditions. It is constructed from inexpensive plastic pipe available at most hardware stores and uses electronic components available at retail electronics outlets. Fish press a nipple for baby food which can be brought under stimulus control using lights, vibratory cues, or both. The fish stick is suitable for inquiry-based experiences in courses on the psychology of learning or comparative psychology. Data are presented using a continuous reinforcement schedule and discrimination learning. Students report that the fish are easy to train and enjoy the hands-on experience.

scholarly journals Training protocol for touchscreen-based visual discrimination in mice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Goto ◽  
Yuya Hataji
Keyword(s):  
Visual Discrimination ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Magazine Training ◽  
Stimulus Position ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Contrast Discrimination ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Training Protocol

Automated touchscreen-based tasks are increasingly being used to explore a broad range of issues in learning and behavior in mice. Researchers usually report how they train mice before acquiring the target task concisely, and shaping protocols at this stage are typically flexible. In this report, we described a training protocol, developed in our laboratory, for mice acquiring a simultaneous discrimination performance using visual stimuli. C57BL/6N mice were first given magazine training. Nosepoke responses were then authoshaped and maintained on a continuous reinforcement schedule. Self-start response was then introduced in order to measure response time to complete each trial. The stimulus position was also varied across trials. We finally examined the contrast discrimination performance. Mice were tested with four different contrast ratios. Target stimuli were white and black targets and the brightness of distractors had values between targets and background. All mice successfully went through all training stages, confirming that this training protocol is promising for shaping appropriate discriminative behaviors in mice.

The Influence of Partial Reinforcement on Serial Autoshaping with Pigeons

1983 ◽  
Vol 35 (4b) ◽  
pp. 275-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Collins ◽  
Douglas B. Young ◽  
Keith Davies ◽  
John M. Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Associative Strength ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Compound Conditioning ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Serial Compound

The effect of partial reinforcement on the rate of responding during the first element of a serial compound was investigated using autoshaping in pigeons. Experiment I employed the illumination of a response key by two different colours as the elements of the compound. Responding during the first element was faster when this stimulus was intermittently paired with the second element and the unconditioned stimulus than when a continuous reinforcement schedule was employed. Experiment II demonstrated that this effect of partial reinforcement is unaffected by maniuplating the associative strength of the second element at the outset of compound conditioning. A similar effect of partial reinforcement was also found in Experiment III which used a tone as the first element of the serial compound.

Food deprivation increases oral and intravenous drug intake in rats

Science ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 205 (4403) ◽  
pp. 319-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
ME Carroll ◽  
CP France ◽  
RA Meisch
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Food Deprivation ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Drug Intake ◽  
Intravenous Drug ◽  
Feeding Condition ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Continuous Access

Rats given continuous access to etonitazene hydrochloride in their drinking water (5 micrograms per milliliter) more than doubled their drug intake while deprived of food. Another group of rats with implanted jugular catheters self-administered etonitazene (10 micrograms per kilogram) intravenously on a continuous reinforcement schedule, and the number of infusions increased significantly on days when they were deprived of food. These results suggest that feeding condition may be a powerful determinant of drug-reinforced behavior.

Overtraining Extinction Effect Using a Free-Operant Procedure

1972 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom N. Tombaugh ◽  
Pierre St. Jean
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Resistance To Extinction ◽  
Extended Training ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Increasing Function ◽  
Operant Procedure ◽  
Free Operant Situation

The effects of five levels of training (210, 490, 1470, 2450, 3430 reinforced responses) on extinction performance were investigated. A free-operant bar-press paradigm was employed. A continuous reinforcement schedule was used with .12 ml. of 64% sucrose. Number of bar-presses and duration of time to reach a 1-min. non-response criterion showed that resistance to extinction was an increasing function of the number of reinforcements during training. However, the amount of time required to reach a 5-min. criterion showed the opposite relationship. It was concluded that different criteria reflected different patterns of extinction behavior and that the overtraining extinction effect (decreased resistance to extinction following extended training) could be demonstrated in a free-operant situation if the appropriate criteria were selected.

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule

2010 ◽  
pp. 354-354
Author(s):  
Daniel Hoyer ◽  
Eric P Zorrilla ◽  
Pietro Cottone ◽  
Sarah Parylak ◽  
Micaela Morelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement

A Task Based Approach to Mechatronic Systems Education

Volume 3 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Firth ◽  
Brian Surgenor ◽  
Peter Wild
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Mobile Robots ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Mechatronic Systems ◽  
Student Workload ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Hands On Learning ◽  
Elective Course

This paper describes an elective course in mechatronic systems engineering that is project based and team-oriented with hands-on learning. Working in small teams, students add electronic components to a mobile robot base and write the programs required to make the robot perform a series of tasks. Although the application of mobile robots as an educational tool in a mechatronics course is becoming the norm at many universities, the task based organization of the Queen’s mechatronics course is believed to have a number of novel features. The paper will review the pedagogy of the course, including aspects of the student workload, the interplay between teams, and the task based approach to marking and organization of the laboratories.

THE INTERRELATION BETWEEN PIGEONS’ SCHEDULE-INDUCED AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND THE RECIPIENTS’ COUNTER-BEHAVIOR

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-499
Author(s):  
Takashi Sakuma ◽  
Tetsumi Moriyama
Keyword(s):  
Aggressive Behavior ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Present Experiment ◽  
Food Reinforcement ◽  
Key Peck ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Food Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Interlocking Contingencies ◽  
Positive Correlations

The present experiment was conducted to investigate whether an experimental pigeon's shield-peck responses toward a target pigeon could be induced by a food reinforcement schedule consisting of continuous reinforcement (CRF) and extinction. Further, the interaction between experimental and target pigeons’ shield-peck responses was investigated. The experiment was an ABAB design consisting of alternating phases of nonreinforcement (A) and CRF-extinction (B) of the experimental pigeons' key-peck responses unrelated to their shield-peck responses. The experimental pigeons' shield-peck responses were induced by the CRF-extinction schedule. Further, there were positive correlations between the experimental and the target pigeons' shield-peck responses revealing a similar trend in both their response rates. Thus, the experimental pigeons’ shield-peck responses were controlled by variables including the reinforcement schedule and social stimuli including ontogenic and phylogenic variables derived from their target pigeons. Moreover, the pigeons' responses could be classified as an aggressive behavior derived from the interlocking contingencies of the responses of the pigeons of the dyads.

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