Shaping Penelope

Today was Penelope's first day of shaping!

Goal: The goal for the next few days is to train Penelope to press the bar. She already knows that the light and sound of the food magazine means she gets food, but I will be trying to associate the bar with the delivery of the food.

Procedure: Before beginning, I played out a procedure of when exactly I would reinforce Penelope. To start, I would reinforce her any time she went to the right side of the box. Once I got her to stay on the right sight, I would then reinforce her in the back right corner. After that, I reinforced her once she pulled her head out of the food magazine and looked to the left. I thought this would be simple and easy for her to catch on to.

Results: Penelope cooperated with me until she started pulling her head out of the food magazine. After this, I lost her focus. She found a spot in the front left corner and did not move away from it. She did not even seem interested in the food pellets I was giving her.

Discussion: Since I do not believe Penelope is stupid, I will keep trying the plan that I have played out until she constantly turns her head to the left after being reinforced. It is very possible that just the act of being out of her cage is reinforcing enough to her. It is also possible that she is getting distracted by my presence while in the operant box. Over the next few days, I will put the cover/door on the operant box and hope that some of the outside distractions can be eliminated.