Mrs. Brisby/Dodger:
Phase 1 of our Spatial/Motor Memory Maze Experiment is finally completed. Although, most of our rats consistently progressed through phase one; it was not all smooth sailing.
The progress of Mrs. Brisby has stabilized to a consistent average of 1 error per 10 trials. Mrs. Brisby has remained stable since October 27, 2008.
Dodger on the other hand, showed a consistent progression within trials until she reached the finish box. When she reached the box, she would turn around and move towards the start multiple times. I decided to move the food just before the finish box during trials of October 30th. Dodger’s error rate significantly decreased from 15.26 to 4.80. I then began shaping Dodger in phases of 2 centimeters (back towards the finish corner). I also spent an evening trying to habituate Dodger to the finish box before moving the food all the way into the box (last phase of shaping). Currently, Dodger has 3.67 errors on average per 12 trials which we believe to be successful enough to move to phase 2.
Here are charts of time and wrong turns for Mrs. Brisby and Dodger:
Mrs. Brisby’s and Dodger’s Data of Phase 1
Here is a chart comparing wrong turns of Mrs. Brisby to Dodger:
Mrs. Brisby’s and Dodger’s Wrong Turns Compared
Here is a video of Mrs. Brisby’s current state as well as Dodger’s shaping and current state (Note: The volume must be turned up high! – my mic was acting up again!) :
Here is a chart of error rates for Dinner in Phase 1:
And the chart of error rates for Eleanore in Phase 1 as well:
Video and information of the beginning of Phase 2 will be posted shortly!
