Editing Operant conditioning chamber (section)

{{Short description|Laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Redirect|Skinner box|the ska band|Skinnerbox}}
[[File:Skinner box scheme 01.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.2|Skinner box]]

An '''operant conditioning chamber''' (also known as a '''Skinner box''') is a [[laboratory equipment|laboratory apparatus]] used to study [[Animal Behavior|animal behavior]]. The operant conditioning chamber was created by [[B. F. Skinner]] while he was a graduate student at [[Harvard University]]. The chamber can be used to study both [[operant conditioning]] and [[classical conditioning]].<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Carlson NR |title=Psychology-the science of behavior|year=2009|publisher=Pearson Education Canada; 4th edition|location=U.S|isbn=978-0-205-64524-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/psychologyscienc0004unse/page/207 207]|url=https://archive.org/details/psychologyscienc0004unse/page/207}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal | vauthors = Krebs JR | title = Animal behaviour. From Skinner box to the field | journal = Nature | volume = 304 | issue = 5922 | pages = 117 | year = 1983 | pmid = 6866102 | doi = 10.1038/304117a0 | s2cid = 5360836 | bibcode = 1983Natur.304..117K | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Skinner created the operant conditioning chamber as a variation of the [[Edward Thorndike#Connectionism|puzzle box]] originally created by [[Edward Thorndike]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Schacter DL, Gilbert DT, Wegner DM, Nock MK |chapter=B. F. Skinner: The Role of Reinforcement and Punishment |pages=278–80 |title=Psychology |date=January 2, 2014 |edition=3rd |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4641-5528-4 }}</ref> While Skinner's early studies were done using [[Rat|rats]], he later moved on to study [[Columbidae|pigeons]].<ref>{{Cite book| vauthors = Kazdin A |title=Encyclopedia of Psychology, Vol. 5|publisher=American Psychological Association|year=2000}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite journal | vauthors = Sakagami T, Lattal KA | title = The Other Shoe: An Early Operant Conditioning Chamber for Pigeons | journal = The Behavior Analyst | volume = 39 | issue = 1 | pages = 25–39 | date = May 2016 | pmid = 27606188 | pmc = 4883506 | doi = 10.1007/s40614-016-0055-8 }}</ref> The operant conditioning chamber may be used to observe or manipulate behaviour. An animal is placed in the box where it must learn to activate levers or respond to light or sound stimuli for [[reinforcement|reward]]. The reward may be food or the removal of [[Noxious stimulus|noxious stimuli]] such as a loud alarm. The chamber is used to test specific [[Hypothesis|hypotheses]] in a controlled setting.