Association for Behavior Analysis International

Laboratory activities with rat have been an important tool for teaching behavior analysis since the 1940’s. In Brazil, Psychology undergraduate courses have incorporated this practice since 1960’s. In recent years, difficulties have been undermining this practice. In 2020, with the advent of COVID19 pandemics, teaching in the rat lab was not possible, with led me to create a alternative practices to use during remote teaching. The practices were developed using PsychoPy3 software, an open source software developed for psychophysical research. I developed 7 protocols: Shaping, CRF, FR, VR, FI, VI and Extinction. Students downloaded the software and the protocols on their own computer and performed the unidentified protocols at home. The scenario was a wall of rocks and the correct response was defined as a mouse click within a circular invisible area. Responses were followed by a pickaxe sound and reinforced with a picture of a gold nugget (that had to be clicked as a consummatory response) and coins sound. Students, then, could analyze their own data, discussing the effect of contingencies on click response, as well as in their thoughts and feelings. The protocols, named as SRGold, are freely available to anyone for teaching, as well as for research use.