To begin to shape (reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior) Shirley to press the bar in the cage down in order to receive a reward from the magazine.
Procedure:
Carolyn and I began shaping Shirley the same day that we were magazine training her. Because Shirley caught on to magazine training so quickly there were a few minutes left in the session for Dr. Trench to help us begin to shape as well. Shaping began about half way through the training session (between 2:40 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.) and lasted until the end of the session at 2:51 p.m. Carolyn was still in charge of the hand switch and reinforcements. Carolyn started to reward Shirley every time she got near the bar, then every time she turned left from the magazine tray, and eventually every time she would come down over the bar after rearing up to check out the light.
Results:
We were not able to fully shape Shirley today due to lack of time. Every time Carolyn would press the hand switch Shirley would check for her reward but she was showing very few signs of returning to the bar in order to receive another reward.
Discussion:
Because Shirley was not immediately returning to the bar or area near the bar after receiving her reinforcement indicated that she was not fully associating the bar with the reward. We were only able to shape Shirley for about 5 to 10 minutes which is no where near enough time to shape completely. She did press the bar on her own 21 times, but because it seemed like random pressing and we could not determine that to be due to her understanding the association we did not consider her fully shaped, but to be on the right track. She did seem to be learning easily and I think that if we would have been able to continue the session for a while longer she may have been even closer to being completely shaped.
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