The Effects of Social Housing and Social Withdrawal on Operantly Trained Behaviors

Indianapolis, IN

As evident by a growing number of online school programs, it is becoming more common for students to engage in individual-based learning environments. Researchers suggested that these programs are lacking with regard to helping students learn to work with others and accomplish tasks. Reviewing the existing literature has helped to formulate questions about the importance of being in social environments with regards to learning. Does isolation hinder the ability to learn tasks at an equivalent speed to those accustomed to social environments? In this study 12 female Long-Evans rats were used to explore the relationship between housing environments and learning acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery. The experiment began with 3 groups of 4 rats. Two were social groups and the third was placed in individual cages. Subjects were trained to lever press for food reinforcers through various FR schedules. Then, 1 social group was separated into individual housing, becoming the social withdrawal group. All subjects underwent extinction trials. Subjects were placed back in the Skinner boxes to measure spontaneous recovery. We projected the social groups would finish the FR schedules before the individual group. We also projected that after 1 social group was separated, the always social group would extinguish fastest, followed by the individual group, and lastly, the social withdrawal group. We project that the social withdrawal group would have a higher number of lever presses during spontaneous recovery, followed by the isolated group, then the social group. Projected results imply that socialization positively affects learning speeds.