Question

CyberRat experiment lab #2  on stimulus presentation

Answer 1

Using CyberRat, select the first subject you previously used for the Habituation/observation experimental session. From the settings screen, select a VT 90 sec schedule (Variable Temporal). Select Fast Simulation. Set your session to terminate after 11 reinforcements (using the number of reinforcements criteria rather than duration of session). Click the “Experiment” button at the top of the screen to run the session. For your data collection in this exercise use the video replay. Determine the latencies by calculating the time between each delivery of water and the subsequent drinking of that water. Drinking is operationally defined as the “eye of the animal disappearing from view as the nose enters the water reservoir.” Measure the first 10 presentation-to-drink latencies. If the animal fails to drink prior to the delivery of the next drop, use that delivery time as the “maximum” latency value for that trial. NOTE for ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION: Long latencies indicate a relatively NEUTRAL stimulus vis a vis Elicitation of the “go-to-drink” behavior of the animal. Enter these latency values in an excel spreadsheet and graph