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I remember some study with training mice to be fed when pressing a button. They found that if they get a morsel every time they press the button they get bored
by anotherevan 6y ago
I remember some study with training mice to be fed when pressing a button. They found that if they get a morsel every time they press the button they get bored of it. However if there was some randomisation as to how often they got a treat, they would sit there pressing the button all the time.
- Wowfunhappy 6y agoThat's a Skinnerbox, named after the psychologist B. F. Skinner who did the experiment. It works on humans too, which is why RPG games drop random amounts of loot and xp.
- anotherevan 6y agoThanks for that. So... I wonder if it'll work on magpies.
- Wowfunhappy 6y agoThe idea behind a Skinnerbox is it keeps the subjects performing the action even after they're satiated. So, if you wanted the magpies to keep collecting bottle caps even after they've had enough to eat, it might be helpful. Based on my childhood memories of feeding birds, I don't expect the birds getting full would be a major concern.
- iSnow 6y agoRight? Birds are like my dogs, basically food black holes. Besides, the amount of bottle caps the magpies in the experiment would be able to find in the wild would be a limiting factor keeping them on their toes.
- tomaskafka 6y agoSince it works on mice and on humans, and magpies are somewhere in the middle, I'd bet yes :).
- theptip 6y agoI don’t think the result was that they got bored of it while it was producing rewards, it’s that when the reward stops coming, they very quickly stop the behavior. If you have unpredictable but net-positive rewards, then you keep pulling the lever for longer when it stops paying out. So if you want to train a dog or other animal with a clicker or just with treats, the optimal strategy is probably not to give them treats every time they do the behavior.
- pipley 6y agoYep, the variable reward schedule https://gamification21.wordpress.com/learning-content-3/16-reward-schedules/ https://gamification21.wordpress.com/learning-content-3/16-r... It's an incredibly powerful effect. Slot machines and the "smart" social media timelines (rather than pure chronological) are the apotheosis of this in humans. Switching both Facebook and Twitter to pure chronological view makes them way less addictive as the element of surprise is all but eliminated on most people's timelines. The platform no longer presents you with something different each time you pull down to refresh.