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Introduction

Animals can be taught to change their behavior by conditioning. Conditioning is building

an association between two events or stimuli. To explain, certain condition, event or stimulus

will result in certain outcomes. For example, bird forage for bug under the rock and finds a bug,

so the bird will repeat that behavior. There is 2 major conditioning which is classical

conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning form a association between two.

To give an example, when the animal scared we will give them a food, we repeat this many time

until they are not scared of the stimulus. The operant conditioning are formed between a

behavior and consequence. For instance, we give the thing that animal want to increase

likelihood that the behavior will happen again. To illustrate, we give dog a bone, when it sits, the

next time dog will want to sit again. Moreover, we can use negative punishment, to do this we

will remove something they want in order to decrease the likelihood that behavior will occur

again. There is a many way we can use classical, and operant conditioning to teach the animals.

However, we want to make sure the experiment is safe and humane for the animal. As we

use the animals to do the experiment, we have to care about them, we will not use some of the

classical, and operant conditioning that will be harmful for the animal to train them. For

example, flooding is a training method that repeat a stimulus to animal until they realize that

there are no threat present from stimulus and shouldn’t fear it in the future. By using this method,

most of the time animal will be too stress, and it will cause a lot of problem for

animal.Therefore, we will use counter conditioning to train the animal. This method is to give

them positive stimulus to change their state of emotions while they are fear by a other stimuli. As

a result, the animal will less stressful.


The purpose of this experiment is to apply classical conditioning and operant

conditioning method to teach the guinea pigs, to make them be able to solve the maze by using

the red dot. This project will be present the result of study of two guinea pigs. We will test that

can the guinea pig use the red dot as a clue to complete the maze. Hence, This experiment will be

useful for people who want to studying about the learning of guinea pigs, and how to use

classical and operant conditioning to teach the other animals.

Literature Review

As the research topic of this experiment is to study about guinea pig’s ability of using cue

to solve a normal maze. In this experimental research, we build on the previous research by

exploring more about cue learning in guinea pigs which is associated with spatial learning. There

are three fields which would be effected on the experiment: spatial learning, memory learning

and the effect of stress and anxiety.

The following studies tested memory of rodents and the way these animals memorise an

event using spatial learning and episodic memory in various experiments. The result of Cued and

spatial learning in the water maze: Equivalent learning in male and female mice by Ramsey and

Pittenger explains that the sex of mice does not affect cued or spatial learning in water maze

learning. In the study called Rats Remember Items in Context Using Episodic Memory

by Brown explained that the rodents learned different events by using episodic memory. The

study of Jones named Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) use spatial memory in foraging for food

to hoard shows that the rodents get spatial learning in foraging for food site, so this means that

they acquire the ability of spatial learning in there food foraging. By analysing these three

studies, it demonstrates that the research from Ramsey and Pittenger (2010) and Jones (n.d.) was
studying in the same topic which is spatial learning. However, the difference between there two

studies is that Ramsey and Pittenger study about the sex affect to spatial learning of rodents, but

Jones studies about rodents’ spatial learning.

How Spatial Learning affect organisms’ survival? In a research called Age-associated

learning and memory deficits in two mouse versions of the stone T-maze by Pistell and Spangler

shows that in both type of maze, water-motivated and shock-motivated, the younger mice tends

to make fewer errors. Moreover, mice of all ages in water-motivated maze tend to move faster

comparing to the mice in shock-motivated version, which wait for the shock before it move

forward. The shock-motivated maze is a maze that shock the animal so that they will escape

from the maze. The shock-motivated maze is one kind of a positive reinforcement which means

that it is added to reinforce the animal to escape the maze. Furthermore, a research from Ramsey

and Pittenger, Cued and spatial learning in the water maze: Equivalent learning in male and

female mice explains that there is only little difference between the performance of male and

female rodent in both cued learning and spatial performance. The study from Machatschke,

Bauer, and Glenk called Spatial learning and memory differs between single and cohabitated

guinea pigs explain that social conditions seems to be an important factor. Memory were more

unclear impaired animal than unimpaired. Cohabitated animal tends to have an encode spatial

memory failure than the single one. And the single one can handle a short-term stress exposure.

In all of the study, there are similar results of relation between spatial learning and memory.

However, Ramsey and Pittenger’s study was different because there is no information about

memory. In conclusion, spatial learning is associate and relate with organism’s age, sex, and

coexistence. From the experiments listed above, animals with those factors tends to affect their

way of living.
The following research below demonstrates that environment and external factors that

cause stress in rodents can increase learning ability. A study named Effects of stress on

behavioural flexibility in rodents by Howland and Hurtubise explains that short-term stress

makes reversal learning quicker and easier, but long-term stress or unpredictable stress make it

more difficult in learning. Another study from Machatschke, Bauer and Glenk called Spatial

learning and memory differs between single and cohabitated guinea pigs shows that cohabitation

with non-fearful animals helps lessen rodents’ IT duration. Moreover, rodents tend to have lesser

fear on the experimenter when there’s an interaction from human. When the guinea pig is

cohabited with non-fearful guinea pig and contacted with human, it learn not to scared of the

experimenter. Food factor can also associated with stress of the rodents. As an example, a study

from Nemeth, Millesi, and Wagner called Sex-Specific Effects of Diets High in Unsaturated

Fatty Acids on Spatial Learning and Memory in Guinea Pigs shows that female guinea pigs

which consume Omega acid have improved in spatial learning during stressful period. On the

other side, male guinea pigs which consume Omega acid have improved in long-term memory

impairment, during stressful period. To sum up, the research from Alan, and Leda and

Machatschke were study about cohabited with non-fearful animals. However, the differences

between them is Machatschke’s guinea pigs are cohabited to lessen the IT duration and fear, but

Alan and Leda’s is about lesson the scared of experimenter. Stress can have positive and

negative effects on the guinea pigs, and it can be reduce by cohabited with other non-fearful

guinea pigs and contacted with human.

This research experiment is build on those previous research and studies from three

factors which are spatial learning, memory learning and the effect of stress and anxiety. It will

allow the science community to have a clear picture about how guinea pigs uses spatial learning
to solve a cued maze. Moreover, the experiment will also show how effective those animal can

do in the maze after trained to be cue by applying classical condition associated with operant

conditioning, as mentioned in the introduction. Since there has not been much done and those

that were done are mostly using the Morris water maze.

To sum up, this research experiment will demonstrates the effectiveness of cue learning

in guinea pigs which is associated with the spatial learning. The importance of this research is its

will give a wider view to the science community about the guinea pigs spatial learning which is

associated with the spatial learning in cue normal maze. The information that will be gather will

be helpful to show that animals’ spatial learning can help them to learn cueing. This will

associated with how they forage food, do activities in their daily life and also communicating

with others. We, human, use it in our everyday life such as the traffic lights and the sign in each

places.

Research Experiment Design


Materials

● 2 Guinea pig

● Futureboard

● Glue

● Scissor or Cutter

● Ruler (for measure height and width)

● Timer

● Food

● Cage

● Bedding

● Water
Procedure: step by step description of what you will do

Part 1: Classical Conditioning to decrease fear of animal during experiment

To make it successful in training the guinea pigs, the first things to warn and be careful is

not to hurt the animals or in another word, be humane. So first Classical Conditioning that

definitely will not be use in this experiment is “Flooding” Because it might cause a unhealthy

mental health for the animals, besides, we’re not in a highly controlled environment and didn’t

have that long amount of time.

The conditioning that might be used in this experiment are “Counterconditioning” and

“Graded Counterconditioning” These two trainings cause least harm to the animal, also takes

only few amount of time. The best conditioning might be Graded Counterconditioning, which is

a combination of a training method that let the animal exposes the negative stimulus in a distance

then get closer and stop, and a training which treat the animal with treats to decrease stress.

Assume that the guinea pig are afraid of us, we will pick them up and hold them, give them treats

and give them time. This is good for the guinea pigs that they won’t get hurt, physical and

mental.

Tips for training guinea pigs

1. Do lots of interaction with the guinea pigs so they become familiar with experimenter.

2. Open Classical music to make the animal feel relax.

3. Use positive reinforcement when the animal is scared.

Part 2: Maze experiment

For maze experiment, we will use normal maze which will have many T maze inside. We will
use a sign which is a dot to show the guinea pig which direction they need to go. We need to

collect a data for time and it mistake. We will time how long do the guinea pig take to solve a

maze. The mistake will be count when the guinea pig ran wrong way. We will compare result of

each trial by looking at time and mistake. We want to know that did a dot help guide a guinea pig

the way out of the maze. We choose to use normal maze with many T maze inside, it have two

ways for guinea pig to choose which way to go, so if the guinea pig choose wrong way we can

easily know they mistake. We will make the guinea pig run a maze about 5 times. Therefore we

will know that the guinea pig improve they learning or not. We will determine by time guinea

pig take and mistake they make. Also, when the guinea pig finished the maze we will give them

food so next time they will want to run the maze again. This training is graded

counterconditioning.

1. Design a maze

2. Prepare material for build a maze (Future board, Glue, Cutter, Ruler)

3. Cut future board and glue it to the base

4. Finish building a maze

5. Waiting for a glue to dry

6. Drawing a dot or making a little door from paper on a maze (use for leading a

way for guinea pig in our experiment)

7. Test a maze with guinea pig. We will do about 5 trials.

Maze Design

● Sketch of maze
● Why do you use this design?

We choose to use this design because in normal maze have many T maze. T maze

have two way for guinea pig to choose. We will use the dot to show the guinea pig which way to

go, if the guinea pig go wrong way we can easily know.

● What materials will be used

We will use flute board, glue, cutter, and ruler to build a maze. The main structure of a

maze will be future board. We think we will use about two or three future board for a maze. One

future board will be a base of the maze and other two we will cut it and use it for a maze wall.

We will use a ruler to measure a future board and cut it out. The width will be about 10-15

centimeter and the height will also be about 10-15 centimeter (depend on guinea pig size). Then

we will use a glue to attach a future board that we had cut to the base. After that we will wait for

a glue to dry completely, then our maze will be finish.

● Statement explaining the safety of materials to animals


The glue we use will be the one that are safe for the animal. The plastic board we will be

using might be dangerous for the rodents if they consume it, so we will always pay attention to

the guinea pigs while they’re in the maze, to make sure they didn’t chew the maze.

Literature review of procedure to justify procedure and maze design

Our procedure to decrease fear of guinea pig during experiment is we will start from looking

at the guinea pig and let the guinea pig looking at us. Then we will start to move closer and

closer to the guinea pig. Then we will gently touch them until they feel safe with us. Our

procedure for maze experiment is to train the guinea pig how to walk through a maze. When they

start to learn we start to test them. We will collect the data time it take and mistake they make

and they improvement. Our procedure for maze design is we will start from research for type of

maze we want. We choose to do normal which will have many T maze inside. We will start to

buy a material and start to build. We will use a future board for making a maze. We need to cut

the future board in a size that guinea pig can go in. Then we will attach the future board that we

cut to the big future board (the base), we will use a glue that is safety for animal. After we finish

a maze we will check it, does the maze strong enough, does it width enough for guinea pig to go

in, etc.

Ethical/ Human Statement

How will you make sure the experiment is safe and humane?

In this experiment, we will make sure to avoid violence or any harm to the guinea pigs.

We had cut out the conditioning that might harm animal’s mental health, which is Flooding. Also
we will pay more attention to the behavior of the animals to see if there’s any “Body Language

of Fear”, so we can treat the guinea pigs before it get any worse.

What considerations were made to ensure the animal is not stressed during experiment?

So we will research about guinea pigs’ Body Language of Fear and always focus on both

animals if there’s any behavior that show a sign of fear. Also the diets and wastes, we need to

make sure that they consume good diets and their waste seems normal.

Body Language signs of anxiety and fear diagram


Timeline for each task

12-16 March 2018 - Plan the experiment

19-23 March 2018 - Bring in material to build maze

- Start record video

26-30 March 2018 - Reduce guinea pig fear

- Train guinea pig how to run maze by

using a sign to show the guinea pig

way to go

- Test guinea pig ability by making it

run the maze

2-5 April 2018 - Analyze the result

- Finish recording and editing the video

How will you collect data?

The data collecting will be obtained by watching the behavior and takes notes. We will

let the guinea pigs repeat the maze several times then use the data to calculate the average

results. The equipment that might be used to collect data will be a stopwatch, which can be used

on the phone.

How will you measure learning?

We will measure learning by looking at the time and number of mistake guinea pig make
while running the maze. If after guinea pig run a couple of maze and the time start to be quicker

and the mistake start to be less that mean the guinea pig improve their learning. But if the time

didn’t get quicker or the same time and making more mistake or the same mistake this mean they

did not improve.

How will you use this information to compare learning in each test subject?

The main test subject is the number of errors that each guinea pigs done by going to the

wrong signs, between the trained one and the one that wasn’t, which related to our research

question. Also an amount of time that individuals spend in the maze compared between the

trained guinea pig and another. Then when we get all the results together, we will calculate the

average for all of them to compare the information that will be obtained from the experiment.

Challenges: what challenges will there be to get the data or evaluate data?

Challenge that will be to get the data or evaluate data is we need to collect the correct data, if

we collect one data wrong it may make other information wrong. When we evaluate out the data

we will get wrong answer or we may fail the experiment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this experiment has been done to show that, the classical and operant conditioning

can be used to teach guinea pig. We will use several type of conditioning to train the guinea pigs.

Lastly, we will get the result from the maze experiment and compare 2 guinea pigs , one is being
train, and another one is not being train. We expect that the guinea pigs that has been train will

be able to use the red dot efficiently to solve the maze.

Bibliography

Barbara (n.d.) Do Guinea Pigs See in Color? Retrieved March 12, 2018 From

http://animals.mom.me/guinea-pigs-see-color-10789.html

Craig J (1990) Hamsters use spatial memory in foraging for food to hoard. Retrieved

March 12, 2018 From https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0376635790900239

Jessica L. (1990) Effects of stress on behavioral flexibility in rodents From Retrieved

March 12, 2018 From

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306452216300628

Lissandra C. (2010) Cued and spatial learning in the water maze: Equivalent learning in

male and female mice. Retrieved March 12, 2018. From

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304394010010190

Matthias Nemeth (2018) Sex-Specific Effects of Diets High in Unsaturated Fatty Acids

on Spatial Learning and Memory in Guinea Pigs Retrieved March 12, 2018

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0140485

Panoz-Brown D (n.d.) Rats Remember Items in Context Using Episodic Memory.

Retrieved March 12, 2018. From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27693137


Paul J.Pistell (2012) Age-associated learning and memory deficits in two mouse versions

of the stone T-maze Retrived March 12, 2018 From

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458011005215

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