Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
Published on: February 15, 2015
Abstract:
This article reviews early free-operant conditioning laboratory research and applications. The seldom-mentioned four free-operant freedoms are described for the first time in detail. Most current behavior analysts do not realize that the freedom to form responses and the freedom to speed responses were crucial steps in designing free-operant operanda in the 1950s. These four freedoms were known by the laboratory researchers of the 1950s to the point that, along with operanda design, Sidman (1960) did not feel the need to detail them in his classic, Tactics of Scientific Research. The dimensions of freedom in the operant were so well understood and accepted in the 1950s that most thought it redundant to use the term free operant. These issues are reviewed in some detail for younger behavior analysts who did not have the opportunity of learning them firsthand.
Related Concept Videos
Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement in operant conditioning can be positive or negative, both of which serve to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Positive...
Degrees of Freedom
For example, suppose there are three unknown numbers whose mean is 10; although we can freely assign values to the first and second numbers, the value of the last number can not be arbitrarily...
Degrees of Freedom
For example, suppose there are three unknown numbers whose mean is 10; although we can freely assign values to the first and second numbers, the value of the last number can not be arbitrarily assigned.
Operant Conditioning Intervention
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...
Instinctive Drift
One-Degree-of-Freedom System
A one-degree-of-freedom system is defined by an independent variable that determines its state and behavior. One example of a one-degree-of-freedom system is a simple harmonic oscillator, such as a...

