Participants We used the Sniffy the virtual rat Pro Version 3.0 program by Wadsworth Cengage Learning. This program attempts to accurately simulate some of the psychological processes and behavioral phenomena found in rats. In this program, all of the subjects are always starved for food, regardless of how much it has eaten. This simplifies the process of operant conditioning by reducing the amount of time required to simply wait for the virtual rat to be hungry again.
For the following experiments, 44 virtual rat subjects, each supervised by its own experimenter, were subjected to operant conditioning techniques, followed by extinction, secondary reinforcement and spontaneous recovery. Since the same program was used for each of the 22 subjects,
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Although there are various features within the operant chamber, the only components that are actively used in these experiments are the bar and food hopper. In order to conduct the 3 main experiments for this research, we must first conduct 2 precursor exercises to prepare the subject. The first precursor exercise is to magazine train the subjects to associate the sound of the magazine with the presentation of food. After launching the Sniffy Pro Version 3.0 program, we can observe the subject in the operant chamber. First, we open the Operant Associations mind window and the Cumulative Record to keep track of our data. We can then begin to train him by delivering a food pellet whenever he approaches the food hopper. We continue this procedure until the subject fully develops an association between the sound of the food hopper and the presentation of the food. The Operant Associations window displays the strength of the association at any particular time. Once the subject has completed developing the association, the sound of the food hopper can be used as a reinforcer to shape his …show more content…
In this experiment, we explore the effects of extinction on the subject. In previous exercises, the subject received a food pellet whenever it pressed the bar. However, in this experiment, the operant chamber is modified so that no food pellet will be delivered regardless of any bar pressing that may occur. Additionally, the pellet dispenser will also be muted so there will be no magazine sound that accompanies bar pressing. Therefore, both the primary reinforcer (food) and secondary reinforcer (magazine sound) are removed. For these experiments, the independent variable is the schedule of reinforcement and the dependent variable is the extinction rate. The schedule of reinforcement refers to the schedule that the reinforcer is provided, which in this case is never and the extinction rate refers to the time it takes for an operant response to be extinguished after the reinforcer is no longer provided. We considered extinction to be reached when the subject presses the bar no more than twice in a 5-minute period, as shown in the cumulative
In the following essay I will be looking into the study conducted by Watson and Rayner (1920) on a small child known as ‘Little Albert’. The experiment was an adaptation of earlier studies on classical conditioning of stimulus response, one most common by Ivan Pavlov, depicting the conditioning of stimulus response in dogs. Watson and Rayner aimed to teach Albert to become fearful of a placid white rat, via the use of stimulus associations, testing Pavlov’s earlier theory of classical conditioning.
Skinner argues that ‘learning is accelerated by reinforcement: a stimulus that increases the probability of a response’ called ‘operant conditioning’ and it is not reliant on what triggered the response but...
Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).
Fear conditioning is a commonly used behavioral paradigm to test an organism’s ability to create associations and learn to avoid aversive stimuli. There are two methodologies: cue and contextual fear conditioning (Kim & Jung, 2006). In cued fear conditioning, a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) which activates a strong unconditioned fear responses (UR). After a continued training period, the neutral CS is now able to activate a conditioned response (CR). Similarly, context conditioning occurs when the background or context cues, during the condition training, is able to predict the US and activate the fear response. For example, a mice can be placed in a novel environment and given an aversive stimulus (e.g. footshock). When the mice is returned to that same environment, it will display a CR (e.g. freezing). The mice’s ability for contextual fear conditioning is dependent on whether it was able to learn and associate its environment with the aversive stimulus. (Curzon, Rustay, and Browman, 2009)
The first systematic study regarding operant conditioning was taken place in the 1800’s by the Psychologist, Thorndike. Thorndike formally defined operant conditioning as a type of learning that is controlled by the consequences of an organism’s behavior. However according to lecture, operant conditioning can be simply thought as performing an action in order to receive a reward. Operant conditioning can be useful when trying to deal with procrastination, increase efficacy of teaching, or to improve motivation. Therefore, operant conditioning can be used as a behavioral modification program to devise a more specific weight loss program to increase the roommate’s chances of making it on the football team. The program will include the following
Stage 3: After Conditioning. Now the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus (US) to create a new conditioned response (CR).” (McLoed. 2008)
Using operant conditioning in middle 3 days. Because I am extremely fond of eating steak. Therefore, I decided to use steak as the stimulus for this experiment. If I could sleep before 12o’ clock, I would get steak the next noon; however if I could not sleep on time, I would only have normal lunch in dining hall the next day.
Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner. In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats operated on their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors(“Behavior,” 2001).
Skinner designed an experiment to test operant conditioning, known as a ‘Skinner box’ (Gross 2005). In the box, animals, such as rats, would be conditioned into certain behaviour. For example, by pressing a lever to receive food (Gross 2005).
This essay will first explore what classical conditioning is by using Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment with dogs to explain how it works. It will then go on to describe how classical conditioning led to more research by Edward L. Thorndike and B.F. Skinner in the study of instrumental behaviour (Gleitman et al. 2011). It will also mention briefly what similarities can be found between operant and classical conditioning before explaining in detail what operant conditioning is (Skinner’s experiment with the operant
On the other hand, one of the strengths of the behavioural approach over the psychodynamic approach, is in the terms of testability, since it only focuses on behaviour that can be tested and observed, which makes it very useful in experiments under a laboratory setting where behaviour can be repeatedly observed and verified. Therefore, the results derived from behavioural approach have been, and continue to be, objectively and reliably
Although arguments could be made for the influence of operant conditioning on disordered eating, classical conditioning is assumed to a major component in the development of maladaptive eating behaviors (Greeno & Wing, 1994; Jansen, 1998). Empirical evidences supports classical conditioning models of eating desires. For instance, Van Gucht et al. (2008) tested the ability to condition serving trays (i.e., neutral stimuli) of different shapes and colors to elicit chocolate cravings. Conditioning consisted of three phases:
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was 18th century American psychologist and the founder of operant conditioning in learning. He believed that external force such as environment can affect an individual’s behavior. According to his theory, one must look at the reinforcement and the consequence in order to understand why organism’s behaved in certain ways. Skinner showed how rat can be used in operant conditioning in his laboratory.
From the time humans are born, they begin the process of learning and trying to understand the world. Conditioning is one way of learning in which a response becomes more frequent as a result of reinforcement. We can also learn through associations and punishments. There are two types of conditioning that will be discussed within this paper, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I will further discuss how both classical and operant conditioning are prevalent within my article claims and then explain why both conditioning methods are important in everyday life.
Learning is defined as a “process of change that occurs as a result of an individual’s experience” (Mazure, 2006). Researchers assume that the process of learning follows certain general principles, which were developed, into the general process learning theories. These include operant conditioning and classical conditioning which has been put forward by leading psychologists like Pavlov, B.F.Skinner and Thorndike. However, in learning, operant and classical conditoning are opposed by biological constraints that state that there are limitations to the theories. Some of these biological constraints on learning will be discussed below.