Final Post

 

     When looking back over my training with Bennie, I feel fondly for both her and her performance. I genuinely enjoyed shaping her and watching visible progress being made nearly every day. It was immensely rewarding to watch Bennie execute a task that I specifically trained her to do. Overall, shaping was likely my favorite part of training because it was thoroughly interactive. The next best part of training was when Bennie truly understood that she was supposed to press the lever and would ne rewarded for it. This understanding took place on training day eight on FR7.

    One thing I did not like about the experience was watching Bennie lose weight. I understand why the diet was necessary, but during one point in my training Bennie kept losing weight while being fed increasing amounts of food. Fortunately, I was able to put Bennie on free feed after three days of losing weight. The experience of watching her weight go down was alarming nonetheless. 

    Although not possible for all students, I would advise students to train their rat every day if they want to see improvement quickly. One way I think the experience could have been improved overall is by having a brief period in class set aside for training discussions. Students could break into small groups for 10 minutes and share what techniques are proving effective in training. This collaboration may help students who are struggling to train their rat. It would also help students who are doing well by having them articulate the processes by which they are finding success in - helping solidify their learning experience. Personally, I only believe this discussion time would need to happen once or twice. 

    The most surprising thing that I experienced was how quickly the rats learned. I did not expect the training to progress so rapidly. Additionally, I overcame the misconception that all rats are pests. perhaps they are more annoying in the wild, but the rats we trained were sweet creatures that I enjoyed spending time with. I would recommend this class to all psychology majors, and even non-psychology students with an interest in the field of learning.