Classical Conditioning Project

By Connor Thomsen

1: The test subject will be fed only the 2 meals he receives in a day no outside table scraps or snacks

2: The test subject shall not be harmed in any way

3: The subject will be treated as he normally would not special treatment

4: Will not be overfed (cat already fat) 5: He shall learn from this experiment

Code of Ethics

I am attempting to teach my cat (Snickel) to speak in order to receive his food

I will point to him, that being the physical command and me saying “Speak” as the vocal command

I will do this for 4 days, In which time I will have preformed this test 8 times

Experiment

Cat Food (Friskies) Bowl (with food in it)

Materials Used

I believe that he can learn this behavior but it will take some time. At least a week or two but I think I might be able to get it earlier than that we will see

Hypothesis

I first started out by holding the food bowl above his head and doing the vocal and physical command.

The first time I did it he sat down. I was really interested by this. I believe he had been previously. In order for him to understand that he needed to meow I would make sounds myself and lower the bowl giving him an idea. Afterwards I let him have it. The second time was the same

Trails 1-2 (Day 1)

Trials 1-2 (Day 1)

During these trials I actually started to see him learning this he first sat and then I said the commands and he didn’t exactly meow but it was a light meow but he did learn something and later that night he did it again in order to get his food

Trials 3-4 (Day 2)

Trials 3 -4 (Day 2)

Once again did the same stuff and he meowed fully this time. And in the evening as well I think he actually learned it

Trials 5-6 (Day 3)

Trials 5-6 (Day 3)

I did not even have to say anything on the last day I just presented the bowl and he meowed. I didn’t have to say the commands he just did it. He finally learned how to do it

Trials 7-8 (Day 4)

The test subject fully learned this behavior. He will now do this every time I feed him.

Conclusion