Fixed Ratio 7

Date: 10/3/13

Start Time: 2:07

End Time: 2:37

Session Duration: 30:00

Number of Bar Presses: 443

Number of Rewards: 63

Snickerpuss’ Weight: 209

Goal:

Our goal was to train Snickerpuss to respond on a Fixed Ratio 7 schedule. On the FR-7 schedule Nicky would be rewarded for every seven times she pressed the lever. We would consider Nicky to have successfully learned this reinforcement schedule if she achieved 60 rewards presses (one per 30 seconds of training).

Procedure:

Nicky weighed 209 grams again, which is exactly her target weight, on the day of training.

For the tenth day of training, we put Nicky on an FR-7 schedule, which would reward her for every seven lever presses. Since lever pressing was an automatic reinforcer, we were able to observe Nicky’s behavior while she was inside the operant box.

Results:

Nicky pressed the lever 443 times during our 30 minute training session, resulting in 63 rewards. Although Nicky received fewer rewards today than yesterday, she still pressed the lever more, signifying learning on her part. We considered Nicky to have learned the FR-7 schedule of reinforcement because she responded at a rate that resulted in more than 60 rewards for the 30 minute session.

Discussion:

            Nicky continued to make progress today. She continued to press the lever repeatedly until a reward was delivered rather than check for a reward between lever presses until one appeared. We are excited about this change in behavior because we think it will be beneficial for her ability to learn schedules where the ratio is stretched even further between the first lever press and the reinforcement, such as FR-10. She even hit the lever all seven times before checking for a reward a few times in this session, strengthening our belief that she has truly learned the sound of the food dispenser means there is a reward and not the act of lever pressing. Nicky’s frustration behaviors also continued to diminish today. Due to Nicky’s continued success with new training schedules, we will move her to an FR-10 schedule during our next training session.

 Cumulative Record for Fixed Ratio 7