Exercises & Quizzes (200 points total)
You will complete a sequence of lab exercises and corresponding quizzes during our scheduled lab time throughout the semester. These exercises and quizzes are worth 25 points each and are intended to help you actively apply course concepts, build critical data analysis skills, and prepare you for more advanced research. Through conducting behavioral exercises with a simulated animal research subject (via Sniffy the Virtual Rat software), you will get hands-on experience working with the behavioral concepts we cover in class, such as classical conditioning, operant learning, and schedules of reinforcement. The open-book quizzes will serve as checkpoints to ensure that you can accurately interpret your data, apply behavioral principles correctly, and demonstrate individual mastery of the material before progressing to subsequent projects. The use of generative artificial intelligence on quizzes is not permitted under any circumstances.
Final Lab Project (100 points total)
The Final Lab Project is designed to help you integrate and apply the concepts and skills you have learned throughout the semester. By engaging in the full cycle of a behavioral research project – from developing a question and hypothesis, to implementing training procedures, to collecting and analyzing data, and finally reporting your findings in APA format – you will gain hands-on experience with experimental design, data interpretation, and scientific writing. This three-part assignment may be completed individually or in a small group. However, if you are absent during either of the lab periods dedicated to this project, you will be required to complete the project individually.
The project begins with Part 1 (10 points), which serves as the initial planning phase. In this section, you (or your group) will design an experiment using Sniffy the Virtual Rat. You will select a target behavior and develop a research question and hypothesis that reflect the behavioral principle(s) you intend to test. Your proposal must outline the independent and dependent variables, as well as a preliminary plan for how you will train the behavior and collect data. This step is intended to ensure that your experiment is clear, well-structured, and feasible before moving forward.
After the instructor has approved your proposal from Part 1, you will move on to Part 2 (30 points), where you will test your hypothesis by implementing your chosen behavioral training method. In this stage, you will record Sniffy’s target behavior before, during, and after training in order to evaluate changes in responding and to assess whether your data support your hypothesis.
Part 3 (60 points) is a culminating assignment that functions as your “final” in the lab. In this section, you will write a 5- to 6-page APA-style research paper that synthesizes your work from Parts 1 and 2. The paper should demonstrate your understanding of the behavioral training method, describe your procedures and results, and offer a thoughtful interpretation of your findings. Your submission must include a title page, introduction, brief literature review, methods section, results, discussion, and references page(s). Note that the title and reference pages do not count toward the page limit.
Detailed rubrics and additional instructions for each component of the project are available on Canvas.
OPTIONAL: Extra Credit (5 points)
You have the opportunity to earn extra credit through attending SUU’s Writing Center (virtual or in-person) to obtain feedback on Part 3 of your Final Lab Project. If you are working in a group, you may visit the writing center individually to review your assigned section of the report. To receive the extra credit, the Writing Center must send confirmation of your visit directly to the instructor.