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An operant conditioning chamber (sometimes called a "Skinner box" after B. F. Skinner, its inventor) is an experimental apparatus used by psychologists to study operant conditioning in animals. The structure forming the shell of a chamber is a three-dimensional box large enough to easily accommodate the organism ( rat, pigeon, monkey, etc) serving as the subject in the research. Conditioning chambers have at least one operandum (or "manipulandum") that can automatically detect the occurrence of a behavioral response or action. Typical operanda for monkeys 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 programming device. Typical operanda for pigeons and other birds are " response keysTelegraph key (sometimes also Morse key is a generic term for any switching device used primarily to send Morse code. Similar keys are used for all forms of manual telegraphy. Two common uses include the electrical telegraph over wires which activates a T" with a switch that closes if the bird pecks at the key with sufficient forceIn physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. The concept appeared first in the second law of motion of classical mechanics. It is usually expressed by the equation F m · a where F is the force,. The other minimal requirement of a conditioning chamber is that it have a means of delivering a primary reinforcerA Primary Reinforcer is one that fulfills a basic physical need for survival and does not depend on learning. or unconditioned stimulus like foodFood is any substance normally eaten or drunk by living organisms. The term food also includes liquid drinks. Food is the main source of energy and of nutrition for animals, and is usually of animal or plant origin. The study of food is called food scienc or waterDrinking water This article focuses on water as we experience it every day. The water (molecule) article describes water from a scientific and technical perspective. Water is an abundant substance on Earth. It exists in many forms, such as sea, rain, and.
With such a simple configuration, one operandum and one feeder, it is possible to investigate uncountable psychological phenomena. Modern conditioning chambers typically have many operanda, like many response levers, two or more feeders, and a variety of devices capable of generating stimuli (lights, sounds, chords, figures, drawings, etc.) in the chamber.
Although commonly referred to as operant conditioning chambers, these apparatuses are also used to study classical conditioningClassical conditioning also called "pavlovian conditioning" and "respondent conditioning", is a type of learning involving animals, caused by the association (or pairing) of two stimuli. The simplest form of classical conditioning is reminiscent of what A--especially in pigeons (c.f., autoshapingAutoshaping (sometimes called "sign tracking") is any of a variety of experimental procedures used to study classical conditioning in pigeons. In its simplest form, autoshaping is very similar to Pavlov's salivary conditioning procedure using dogs. In Pav).
See Also
- ConditioningThis article is about the psychological term. Conditioning is also an engineering term for putting something (for example, a communications link) into a particular condition. Conditioning is a psychological term for what Ivan Pavlov described as the learn
- Psychology
