As an undergraduate in 1979 and for extra credit in a Theories of Learning class taught by Dan Tortora at Jersey City State College, I successfully conditioned a rat to put a ball through a hoop. Students in that class were so excited to see a rat do this trick that, with the encouragement of Dan, most of the students decided to try to train their animals and some were successful. Word got out of what we were doing and before long we were able to secure funds through the psychology club to train 2 teams, albinos vs. hooded rats, and make them play. As the department's lab assistant, I was sort of in-charge of this project and had access to the tools and space to build a basketball court-cage of sheet metal and plexiglass. Dan was going to take care of the reinforcement apparatus. Unfortunately, and for a number of reasons we never got the reinforcement set-up to work. One problem was that we realized would occur was that, with the set-up we had planned, all the rats and not just the one making the hoop would quickly learn that reinforcement would be available when a ball went through a hoop. Nevertheless, we did train a few rats to put a ball through hoops and it was fun watching them 'play'-- and they could play 'rough' too. At any rate, this happened in the Spring semester of my senior year. My recollection is that, after most of us who were involved in the project graduated, no one else followed up on it and it sort of died.
I admit that the project was one of the best learning experiences that I had as an undergraduate. It is too bad that, because of the excessive cost to maintain rats and other animals, fewer and fewer institutions are able to offer these wonderful learning opportunities to their students. Miguel -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 11:01 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Re: That's Incredible's "Rat Basketball" This was great, but I can't find anything online that actually shows a game :( Do you have a link? Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 09:29:46 -0500 >From: "Beth Benoit" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [tips] Re: That's Incredible's "Rat Basketball" >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > > Your googling probably already uncovered this > description, with a wonderful little continuous > video of two rats playing basketball, but just to > save others the effort: > http://www.rattycorner.com/articles/basketball.shtml > Beth Benoit > Granite State College > Plymouth State University > New Hampshire > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Julie Osland > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 8:34 AM > Subject: [tips] That's Incredible's "Rat > Basketball" > Dear Tipsters-- > > Our department has a VHS of a segment from the > "That's Incredible" TV > Program (hosted by John Davidson, Fran Tarkenton > and Cathy Lee Crosby) > that features "rat basketball." It is a great 5 > minute illustration of > what can be accomplished through operant > conditioning, and out students > just love it. However, our copy is starting to > wear out. On the tape it > mentions that in a previous season of the show, a > 2-rat basketball game > was played but this episode features a total of 4 > rats shooting some > hoops. And on the tape, it mentions a "James > Devine" at "DeKalb > University" I've done some google searches, but > haven't had any luck > finding the episode or this "James Devine" so I > thought I would see if > tipsters could help or point me in the right > direction. > > Thanks! > > Julie Osland, Ph.D. > Assistant Professor of Psychology > Wheeling Jesuit University > 316 Washington Ave. > Wheeling, WV 26003 > > --- > To make changes to your subscription go to: > http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish > > --- > To make changes to your subscription go to: > http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
