2023 Volume 37 Issue 2 Pages 216-234
The experimental analysis of behavior, a basic field of behavior analysis, experimentally manipulates the 3-term contingency in order to analyze the functional relationship between environmental factors and behavior, and measure behavior. The primal requirement of the experimental analysis of behavior is to simulate the 3-term contingency in a controlled laboratory setting; its research tool is an operant experimental chamber (commonly known as "Skinner box"), consisting of discriminanda, an operandum, and a reinforcer-presenting apparatus, corresponding to the 3-term contingency. Control of the Skinner box has evolved from detection and automatic reinforcement of responses by mechanical mechanisms, to electronics, and thence to computer control. It has also continued to evolve to allow the study of various response topographies, while introducing new technologies that allow for automatic measurement and detection. Experiments that previously required expensive systems can now be performed using inexpensive systems as technology evolves, and animal behavior can be detected in greater detail than was possible previously. In addition, technological advances have widened the range of propositions that can be examined. These innovations are further advancing the behavioral science begun with Skinner’s first experimental box. The present paper describes the evolution of the Skinner box by presenting the history of automation of its control, the connection between the devices developed in Skinner’s "Project Pigeon" and "Project ORCON" and the development of postwar devices, and examples of the introduction of real-time image processing and real-time vocal recognition technologies. Finally, advances in device production technology using 3D printers are presented.
