An apparatus for studying instrumental conditioning in animals (typically rats or pigeons) in which the animal is isolated and provided with a lever or switch which it learns to use to obtain a reward, such as a food pellet, or to avoid a punishment, such as an electric shock.
- The studies described as operant were conducted in Skinner boxes using positive reinforcement and a free operant procedure.
- An animal behaviorist I knew used to demonstrate this in laboratory rats that were previously shaped to the Skinner box procedures.
- The students have a joke about the rats in the Skinner box.
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