Classical and Operant Conditioning experiment
...shake left” and “shake right” to be the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the raising of the appropriate paw to be the conditioned response (CR). I conditioned the unconditioned response (UCR), shaking; the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), tapping his leg, by using operant conditioning and liver treats as a positive reinforcement. Day 1: I began by acting like I was going to grab Catfish’s head. Just as I suspected he put his paw on my arm. I tapped his leg and I gave him a treat as a positive reinforcer. I am using operant conditioning at this point in order to establish an unconditioned stimulus (tapping Catfish’s leg) and an unconditioned response (putting his paw in my hand). Once I have shaped this behavior I can then go on to the second phase using Pavlov’s classical conditioning. Day 2: After two days of fixed ratio reinforcement, Catfish was beginning to give a conditioned response every time after I tapped his leg. Every time I tapped his leg we exchange a paw for a liver treat. Catfish loves his liver treats. That day I was using continuous reinforcement. Day 3: I switched to using variable interval reinforcement. I only gave him a liver treat when I felt like it. Catfish started learning that when I tap his leg he is to give me his paw. I was actually conditioning an unconditioned response. I was still using variable interval reinforcement but I only gave him two or three treats the whole day. Day 4: I switched over to using classical conditioning. I had the active ingredient to do a Pavlov classic experiment. My UCS was the leg tap and the UCR is Catfish shaking. I no longer used any reinforcement. Every time I tapped Catfish’s head he shakes. Day 5: I introduced the word “shake right,” the neutral stimulus (NS), as I tapped the appropriate leg. I then had to reintroduce positive reinforcement. I was afraid Catfish was forgetting the CR. He did not want to cooper...