The road from lever-press to GPS

Abstract

B.F. Skinner developed the operant laboratory using electromechanical technology available in the 1930s. Since then, electronics and digital computers have changed the way in which events are recorded, and experiments programed and controlled. However, the essential features of the operant preparation (a set of instruments, concepts, and procedures seamlessly integrated to reliably render samples of operant behavior) have remained for the most part intact. Years of accumulated knowledge may be necessary to understand the extent of a model’s capacity and limitations. In the case of the operant preparation, a number of important limitations to its original accepted validity have appeared over time, derived from new data and more inclusive theoretical frameworks. The aim of this paper is to examine the significance of the operant assay, and to consider potential extensions to incorporate dimensions of behavior made possible by new and emerging theories and technologies.