Final Days of Light Training

Today was the final day of Light Training with the rats. For the past week(s) (one week with Sophie, and two weeks with Lisa) we have be spending 40 minutes every day running trials. These trials consisted of reinforcing the rat when they pressed the bar when the light was on (3 minute time interval), and not reinforcing them when they pressed it when the light was off (1 minute time interval). This phase was needed so that the rats would begin to associate the light, as the signal that they were able to receive food. This information will be needed as they move into the next phase of our experiment, which is the DRL schedule.

Below is a bar graph representing the amount of bar presses Sophie did during all trials. The blue bar represents the amount of bar presses when the light was on, while the red represents the amount of presses when the light was off. The amount of bar presses when the light was off has significantly decrease from the first days of training, while the amount of presses with the light on has stayed more or less constant. Ideally we want the amount of bar presses when the light is off to be zero, but because of time we have to move onto Phase II of our experiment (DRL schedule)

 

 The graph below shows the data collected from the last day of light training with Sophie. As has been seen in the other sessions Sophie seems to continue to press the bar even when the light is off in the beginning. But after four trials during the training session she begins to cease pressing the bar when the light is off. A trial is defined as 3 minutes with the light on, followed by 1 minute of the light off.

Here is a video taken of Sophie (11/10). This video shows her:

1. Pressing the bar when the light is on

2. The removal of the light, followed by no bar pressing

3. The re-introduction of the light, followed by bar pressing.

 

Below is a graph depicting Lisa’s overall progress with the light and bar pressing:

As was the case with Sophie, Lisa also begins the session by still pressing the bar when the light is off. As the session moves on, the amount of pressing while the light is off decreases. Below is a graph showing Lisa’s data from the last light training session:

The next step of our experiment will begin tomorrow and will be training both Sophie and Lisa to press the bar on a DRL schedule, with the light as a prompt.