I, Sniffy
So yesterday I was at my friend's house and he had this software called Sniffy the Rat, which is designed to teach principles of behaviorism like operant conditioning. Virtual Sniffy is albino and fairly realistic-looking: our mission is to train Sniffy to press the bar to get a tasty food pellet. First goal: make Sniffy associate the clicking sound of the hopper opening with the TFP (relatively easy). Getting him to realize he only got food when he reared up and pressed the button was considerably harder, and I kept screwing up by giving him reinforcement too quickly and inconsistently.

The whole thing was weirdly compelling and brought home how powerful reinforcement really is. One of the many things I keep reminding myself of over and over. Just like Sniffy needing that food pellet over and over before he made the connection....