Animal Training: Gary the Hamster

The Monday Couple: Gary & Jihyo

Profile of Gary

Name: Gary the cheeky hamster

Gender: Male

Occupation: Jihyo's lover

Breed: Syrian (Grey in colour)

Profile of Jihyo

Name: Jihyo the blank hamster (Mong Jihyo)

Gender: Female

Occupation: Gary's wife

Breed: Syrian (Black stripe on her back, like sugar glider)

Hello guys! It has been 2 weeks since Psychology week and we just finalized the animal training video featuring Gary! Gary shows quite a big improvement throughout the agility training and we couldn't be more proud of him! 

Unfortunately Jihyo did not get the chance to show off her talent probably because they're expecting some babies soon??!! Anyways, she has been a supportive wife to Gary all these while and everything went smoothly Alhamdulillah. 

Thank you Dr. Lihanna Borhan for giving us this chance to explore the world of Psychology by dealing with animals that is apparently quite strange to some of us. To Red Velvet team, you guys are the best!! Thank you for each and everyone of you who directly or indirectly contributing to this group. 

Save Our Gaza

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Islam in Gaza. May Allah's SWT help with them.

(teaser)-counting down the day..

Gary and Jihyo in action..

Subhanallah.. How great Allah creates this for us to think upon.

Episode 1

Once upon a time, in a far far away land..

there are live two cute hamsters named Gary and his wife Jihyo

are we really hamsters?

let we dry up ourselves first

changing room.

our house are broken apart for hygienic purpose

the sun-ray kills the bacteria,.good bye dirt, bacteria and bad smell..

TO BE CONTINUED...

 (-_-")

okay, that's all for now..thank you for your time.don't miss next entry for more teaser from us..

Animal training :)

After we have bought two cute hamsters we have discussed about naming them, then we came up with Gary and Jihyo, we actually took sometime feeding them without even starting the training seasons, later on we have decided to make two types of training since we have got two hamsters, so we made agility and maze.

For the first time in training season we put one of them in the agility and the second one in the maze, we were thinking that we can make some progress on that day, but we were unable to control them cause they were running everywhere escaping from their new environment, so we end up doing nothing, but later on we learnt that we should at first teach them by letting them going around and by exploring so they can get used to or adapt with the new environment.

In fact, now we have focused on Gary only and we started training it while reconstructing the maze in order to start with the second hamster, we made some progress, yes of course it wasn't that easy, we definitely must have some patience in order to see the result of our effort otherwise we will end up so frustrated, so we started step by step and slowly Gary has shown some improvement in the agility, we got so happy as it was the end, but of course that was the first season and we still have a lot to do and yes we can :) 

Da'wah project ..

Our task for the Da'wah project is to focus on how to increase the awareness of Muslims to follow the Sunnah (tradition) of the prophet Mohammed PBUH. some acts like we as Muslims have forgotten to do, acts that only few of us are doing, it is like we have omitted something that should be a part of our daily life activities, things that bring us closer to Allah by putting our forehead on the ground, sooth our heart in a very busy day, and above all that make us feel protected. Our objective is to remind people to implement (Dhuha prayer) and Mathurat (remembrance of Allah day and night) in regular manner.

Reinforcement Schedule

Assalamu'alaikum Madam Lihanna and readers.....

First of all, Happy Holiday {]=)..... and Selamat Hari Raya Eid-Adha, in advanced....

Due to mid-semester examination and followed by mid-semester break, we didn't have the opportunity to conduct our weekly meeting.

But!!! We'll still continue updating this blog as planned, even all of us are in Hari Raya mood.... *;^....

This week, madam Lihanna taught us on Instrumental Conditioning - Reinforcement Schedule.

Intermittently reinforced responses are extinguished more slowly than continuously reinforced responses.

Now, let us look at several schedules... DON'T GET CONFUSED.....

Fixed ratio (FR) ~ Reinforcement is presented after a certain constant number of responses have occurred.                              

Variable ratio (VR) ~ Reinforcement is presented after a particular, yet continually changing, number of responses have been emitted. 

Fixed interval (FI) ~ Reinforcement is contingent on the first response emitted after a particular, constant amount of time has gone by.                                             

Variable interval (VI) ~ Reinforcement is contingent on the first response emitted after a certain time interval has elapsed, but the length of the interval changes from one occasion to the next.

Then, we were acknowledged by madam on Ineffective forms of punishment....

oh yeah... one more thing... the POP QUIZ....hehe...it make us smile when madam said, "ok, put aside your book, we are having a quiz today..."

~speechless~

...and that's all for now...

Have a nice holiday...

Assalamu'alaikum ;> 

Operant Conditioning

Difference between Classical and Operant Conditioning

 

Skinner's Operant Conditioning Mechanisms

• Positive Reinforcement or reward: Responses that are rewarded are likely to be repeated. (Good grades reinforce careful study.)
• Negative Reinforcement: Responses that allow escape from painful or undesirable situations are likely to be repeated. (Being excused from writing a final because of good term work.)
• Extinction or Non-Reinforcement : Responses that are not reinforced are not likely to be repeated. (Ignoring student misbehavior should extinguish that behavior.)
• Punishment: Responses that bring painful or undesirable consequences will be suppressed, but may reappear if reinforcement contingencies change. (Penalizing late students by withdrawing privileges should stop their lateness.)

(Good & Brophy, 1990)

Koki: The Standalone Monkey

 

One day, Amanda and her colleagues from the Center for Wildlife Conservation Amazon went to a forest in the Amazon to do some researches on monkeys over there. Amanda is known as a zoologist. In their adventures while doing the research, Amanda and the crew have found a baby monkey that has been abandoned by her mother without a care. So, Amanda and the other zoologist had decided to bring back the baby monkey back to the care center. They named the baby monkey as Koki and Amanda was appointed as a chief who will take care of the monkey. So, most of her time was spent with the baby monkey and she was supposed to take care of it until Koki reaches 3 years old. After that, they will have to release her to  the real habitat again.

Throughout that particular period, Amanda who is apparently a blond hair women became a care taker for Koki. Therefore, Koki was avoiding anyone who are not blond and run away from anyone who gets close to her. However, what was noticeable to Amanda was, Koki did not shown any sign of fear from other people who have blonde hair or anything that has similar color to Amanda's hair. So, she came up with an idea. In order to prevent Koki from getting attached to strange people with blonde hair and escapes away from the care center, Amanda taught Koki to identify the odor of her because usually animal can recognize others through their sense of smell. By that, Koki will always recognize Amanda as a mother to her, and stays close to her.

When Koki grown up to 3 years old, it was the time to take her back to the forest, so that she will live together with other monkeys. But after almost 3 years with Amanda, when the team brought Koki to the forest, she was in the deepest feeling of sadness and was isolating herself from other monkeys. So, Amanda decided to stay with Koki in the forest for 2 weeks, in order to accompany Koki in familiarizing with the new environment. Throughout the two weeks, Amanda persuaded Koki to eat along with other monkeys. At first, Koki rejected the invitation to eat with other monkeys. But eventually, with Amanda being around and persuaded by food, Koki started to be familiar with them and began to socialize with other monkeys in the jungle happily. At last, Amanda left Koki with the new friends in the new habitat. The zoologists had put a collar on Koki’s neck in order to detect its movement in that forest.

They did not just left Koki alone just like that, but they have to study how a monkey like Koki’s situation, with no parents when baby, can cope with the real habitat in the future. So, for the first three months, the officers from the care center detected that Koki was in sadness and got depressed as she was left by her mother Amanda. But then, slowly, Koki tend to forget the previous mother by socializing and by making friends with other monkeys. And the best thing for it was, she has met her life partner.

After a year, Amanda really wanted to know how far Koki’s progress in coping with the new habitat. After she met a life partner, Koki got its own baby and live happily in the jungle with other monkeys. Once Amanda met Koki, at the first sight, Koki showed slight happiness. But at the same time, she tried to avoid Amanda because she thought that Amanda will harm her. Slowly and gradually after regained her memory, especially after recognized Amanda through her odor, Koki was jumping happily and started inviting other monkeys to greet Amanda as she remembered that Amanda was her mother when she was a baby. Koki also showed appreciation by brought her baby to Amanda. Amanda was really touched with the response from Koki and by that, she realized that Koki now is living happily in the new environment.
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So, which part is related to the concepts below? From what we have learned in our class?

1. Associative bias
2. Sensory preconditioning
3. Higher order Conditioning
4. Extinction
5. Counter conditioning
6. Spontaneous recovery
7. Stimulus discrimination
8. Generalization