Mouse Training

Project Mouse

3/17/2013

Alec Broughton

My study that I did on my mouse was training my mouse to associate certain words like "up" and "bed" with certain objects or actions through the use of classical conditioning. I also started training my mouse to climb up obstacles using operant conditioning and putting that together with training it to get to its bed. One relevant study done prior to my experiment was that of Ivan Pavlov. He did an experiment with a dog to see if it would associate a sound or sight, which occurred right before the arrival of food, with food and salivate. After several pairings of tone and food, the dog began salivating to the tone alone. Another relevant study to my experiment is that of B. F. Skinner who used operant conditioning in his experiments. He designed a chamber known now as the Skinner box for a rat. Inside of this box was a bar that an animal must press to release a reward of food or water. This is relevant to my study by his use of shaping to get the mouse to press the button is similar to the way I will shape my mouse to climb an obstacle. My hypothesis was that my mouse would eventually begin to associate certain words with food, but I did not think that I would be able to train my mouse to climb up obstacles on command. Mice are much more intelligent animals than I had originally thought.

To begin training my mouse I started with baby steps. I simply just put my hand in the cage and let it sit there for 30 minutes at a time so that the mouse could get used to my hand. The mouse was very afraid of my hand and would get as far away as it possibly could from it. Anytime I moved my hand the mouse would be off and running away. I also begin testing different treats with the mouse to see what it likes. It was not a fan of corn or Cheerios or really anything I tried at first except for it like Honey Combs. I needed to find a treat that I could use to motivate the mouse to want to do things and to begin my training. The next time I was working with my mouse, I decided to begin handling it. To get a hold of it I had to corner the mouse in its cage (which is a lot harder than it sounds). Once cornered, I lifted the mouse out of its cage and held it with both of my hands. The mouse was very frightened and tried squeezing out of my hands so I had to pay close attention to make sure I did not drop it. I also tried feeding the mouse by hand, but it was too afraid to take the food. The only time it would take food by hand was if my hand was lying still on the bottom of the cage with food on it and the mouse would take the food off my hand and run away. After handling my mouse and doing the same process for a couple weeks, it became a little less scared of me. The only way I could get the mouse to become comfortable with my hand was with Honey Combs. The mouse began associating my hand with food. Therefore, when I put my hand in the cage it would come to it assuming there would be food on my hand. This made it much easier to handle the mouse. I found a new red treat that the mouse very much appreciates, and I started more serious training.

I officially began my classical conditioning at this point. I wanted to get the mouse to associate words with food. Now when I gave my mouse treats from hand, I forced it to reach up for the treat. After doing this a couple times I began saying the word "up" as the mouse received the treat. The next time I tried training my mouse I tried getting the mouse to stand up without a treat. It was unsuccessful. I had not worked with my mouse long enough yet. I continued the Classical Conditioning. After a few more times I started presenting the treat a second later in order to get it to stand up not just because of the treat, but because I said the word "up". After I couple more times, I attempted to get the mouse to stand up when I said the word up without a treat involved. It worked this time. This is just a stepping-stone to teaching my mouse to associate the word "bed" with its bed.

My mouse is now ready to be trained to go to its bed when I say the word "bed". I began this training with giving my mouse a treat every time it enters its bed. I also continue to handle it every time I train it to make sure it stays comfortable with me. I continue associating the mouse's bed with food and I began saying the word bed as it entered it. The mouse surprisingly