An operant conditioning chamber is a laboratory apparatus used to study
animal behavior. The operant conditioning chamber was created by B.
F. Skinner while he was a graduate student at Harvard University. It may
have been inspired by Jerzy Konorski's studies. It is used to study both
operant conditioning and classical conditioning.
Skinner created the operant chamber as a variation of the puzzle box originally
created by Edward Thorndike. Purpose
An operant conditioning chamber permits experimenters to study behavior
conditioning by teaching a subject animal to perform certain actions in
response to specific stimuli, such as a light or sound signal. When the subject
correctly performs the behavior, the chamber mechanism delivers food or
another reward. In some cases, the mechanism delivers a punishment for
incorrect or missing responses. For instance, to test how operant
conditioning works for certain invertebrates, such as fruit flies,
psychologists use a device known as a "heat box". Essentially this takes up
the same form as the Skinner box, but the box is composed of two sides: one
side that can undergo temperature change and the other that does not. As soon as
the invertebrate crosses over to the side that can undergo a temperature
change, the area is heated up. Eventually, the invertebrate will be
conditioned to stay on one side of a heat box, or more specifically the side
that does not undergo a temperature change. This goes to the extent that
even when the temperature is turned to its lowest point, the fruit fly will
still refrain from approaching that area of the heat box. These types of
apparatuses allow experimenters to perform studies in conditioning and
training through reward/punishment mechanisms.
Structure The structure forming the shell of a
chamber is a box large enough to easily accommodate the animal being used as a
subject.. It is often sound-proof and light-proof to avoid distracting
stimuli. Operant chambers have at least one
operandum, and often two or more, that can automatically detect the occurrence
of a behavioral response or action. Typical operanda for primates and rats
are response levers; if the subject presses the lever, the opposite end
moves and closes a switch that is monitored by a computer or other
programmed device. Typical operanda for pigeons and other birds are response
keys with a switch that closes if the bird pecks at the key with sufficient
force. The other minimal requirement of a conditioning chamber is that it has a
means of delivering a primary reinforcer or unconditioned stimulus like food or
water. It can also register the delivery of a conditioned reinforcer, such as an
LED signal as a "token". Despite such a simple configuration, one
operandum and one feeder, it is possible to investigate many psychological
phenomena. Modern operant conditioning chambers typically have many operanda,
like many response levers, two or more feeders, and a variety of devices
capable of generating many stimuli, including lights, sounds, music,
figures, and drawings. Some configurations use an LCD panel for the
computer generation of a variety of visual stimuli.
Some operant chambers can also have electrified nets or floors so that
shocks can be given to the animals; or lights of different colors that give
information about when the food is available. Although the use of shock is
not unheard of, approval may be needed in some countries to avoid unnecessary
harmful experimentation on animals. Research impact
Skinner's operant chamber allowed him to explore the rate of response as a
dependent variable, as well as develop his theory of schedules of
reinforcement. If the event increased the number of responses it is said to
strengthen its responding and if it decreased the number of responses it
weakens the responding. The first operant chambers were attached to
cumulative records on drums producing characteristic pauses, scallops, and
other lines. Operant conditioning chambers have become common in a variety
of research disciplines including behavioral pharmacology, and whose
results inform many disciplines outside of psychology such as behavioral
economics. Application to games
Slot machines and online games are sometimes cited as examples of human
devices that use sophisticated operant schedules of reinforcement to reward
repetitive actions. Application to social media
Social networking services such as Google, Facebook and Twitter have been
identified as using the techniques, critics use terms such as Skinnerian
Marketing for the way the companies use the ideas to keep users engaged and
using the service. Skinner Box
Skinner is noted to have said that he did not want to be an eponym. Further,
he believed that Clark Hull and his Yale students coined the expression: Skinner
stated he did not use the term himself, and went so far as to ask Howard Hunt to
use "lever box" instead of "Skinner box" in a published document.
See also Behaviorism
Radical Behaviorism References
External links From Pavlov to Skinner Box - background
and experiment