Sniffy the Virtual Rat

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Exploring the Psychology of Learning

Sniffy the Virtual Rat, is a fun, interactive software program that gives undergraduate students a virtual laboratory experience . . . without all the drawbacks of using a real laboratory rat.

Using Sniffy, students can explore operant and classical by performing experiments that demonstrate most of the major conditioning phenomena discussed in textbooks on the psychology of learning.

There are two versions of Sniffy, the Virtual Rat.

    Sniffy Lite demonstrates the most basic phenomena of Operant and Classical conditioning but does not have the complexity and flexibility for advanced learning topics.

    Sniffy Pro is a comprehensive simulation of advanced learning phenomena as described in detail in this web site. It has been field tested at several colleges and universities for use in Learning and Animal Behavior courses.

The Sniffy, the Virtual Rat, home page has eight menu options on the left-hand side of the screen. You are advised to progress through the menus in order from top to bottom, unless you know specifically what you are looking for.

Steps for using this site:

  • After you have read the Main page, and the About Sniffy page, run the Tutorial (takes about 15 to 20 minutes) to see how to operate the program to run learning experiments. Run the OVERVIEW first and then proceed through each of the three Projects.
  • Read the Manual Contents to see the range of exercises possible. We have chosen 3 major exercises (as detailed in the Tutor) which you can try out using the Demo software. Please note the Demo runs for a limited time and does not allow you to save files.
  • Read the Exercises pages, and print a hard copy so that you can have them beside you while you run the Demo.
  • Use the Download menu to select the version of Sniffy Pro that you want to use on your own computer. Do the Tutorial first so that you know how to run the Demo!!!
  • Double-click the Demo installer, and follow the instructions.
  • Open the Sniffy Pro Demo folder and double-click the Sniffy Pro Demo icon (or in Windows look in the Programs section of the START menu, and select Sniffy Pro Demo).
  • For the next 20 days you can try out these exercises and exercises of your own design!

Created by
Tom Alloway, Greg Wilson, Jeff Graham, Lester Krames