We have conducted simulated experiments on Sniffy to demonstrate various aspects

We have conducted simulated experiments on Sniffy to demonstrate various aspects of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. As we conclude experiments on Sniffy, you are going to write an APA-style research paper on Sniffy’s generalization gradients, based on the activities from Week 7, Exercises 39-44. You likely wrote an APA formatted paper like this for Research Methods and perhaps other courses. You will want to review Ch. 13 in the Sniffy text and the Week 7 Activities. Your paper will focus on Sniffy’s behavior during the generalization experiments.
You must write in your own words. It is plagiarism if you use exactly the same wording as any existing materials or if a part of your paper is the same as your classmate’s. For an example of the general expectations and formatting of this assignment, refer to “Learning Sample Paper” posted on Canvas. Please submit the MS Word file of your paper to turnitin.com via our Canvas site.
I will be live on Zoom during office hours this Friday, 10/14, from 11:30-12:30 to discuss the paper and answer any questions: Join Zoom Meeting
https://fullerton.zoom.us/j/84058264781?from=addonLinks to an external site.
Analyze Data
You need to process our class data before you write the paper. Download “Generalization Class Data.xlsx” (I will post this on Canvas the day after everyone submits their assignment and data). The “Class Data” worksheet contains the data from students in our class who produced reasonable data as part of Week 7 Assignment. First, calculate the mean and the standard deviation for each generalization test (S+, S-, and S+/S-) <--this links to a tutorial. As part of your Results section (described below), you can complete the table in the “Summary” tab of the worksheet (See video on Canvas). In the meantime, you can begin working on the Introduction and Method sections of your paper (see below). Write your Paper You should write this paper as though you are the researcher who conducted the experiments on a lab rat. Therefore, you should imagine that you are testing your own hypotheses about generalization and discrimination, and how it might lead to a peak shift and behavior contrast. Sometimes this is confusing -- you do not need to come up with an off-the-wall unique hypothesis; it is expected that most of our hypotheses will be similar and based on our understanding of these concepts. But you need to state the hypothesis in your own words and then proceed as though you're a researcher who set out to test the hypothesis. The “Learning Paper Grading Sheet.xlsx Download Learning Paper Grading Sheet.xlsx” shows all the grading items (i.e., rubric) I will use. This will give you a good idea of what I am looking for from your paper, along with the sample student paper. Below are tips on each section. Title Page: See the sample document for formatting. Choose a Title that is clear and informative. Abstract: Write this last. It should be less than 500 words and summarize the entire paper. Look at other published journal articles for examples. Consider writing 1-2 sentences summarizing the introduction, 1-2 sentences laying out the predictions/hypotheses, 1-2 sentences for the Method, 2-3 sentences for the Results and Discussion. Introduction: Explain concepts of operant conditioning, discrimination learning, S+, S-, S+/S-, generalization gradient, peak shift, & behavioral contrast. You are taking on the role of researcher and writing this paper as though you’re authoring a description of your own experiments and results. So, you need to outline specific hypotheses with predictions about the three generalization gradients that we tested in Exercises 39-44 (the S+, the S-, and the S+/S-). Your predictions should describe the expected location of the peak/trough and the height of S+/S- gradient relative to S+ or S- gradient). Do not use the Exercise numbers from Sniffy. Instead, describe the actual stimuli that we used in the activity (e.g., 2.25 kHz tone, 2 kHz tone). Method: Breaks down into 3 subsections: Subjects, Materials/Apparatus, and Procedures. Describe the experimental procedures including pre-training for bar press, discrimination training, and generalization gradient tests. Describe with specific numbers (tone frequency, number of trials, etc.). Once you cite Sniffy formally, you can just state “Sniffy” without further citation (this is an exception to the APA style). Do not use the Exercise numbers in Sniffy. Results: Describe our class data, with reference to Table 1 & Figure 1 (which you will create) and what they mean. Discussion: Summarize your findings and potential weaknesses of the current study. Were your hypotheses supported? If not, what do you think has happened? References: Don't forget the References page with proper APA formatting. Table 1: Create a table showing the numbers from the “Summary” worksheet in the file “Generalization Class Data.xlsx”. It should look like below (the numbers are not correct; you need to calculate the right numbers from our class data). Table 1.png Figure 1: Create a figure showing the three mean generalization gradients. It should look like below (just for the format; the exact figure will be different). Figure 1.png