The watershed years of 1958-1962 in the Harvard Pigeon Lab.
Run quick, side-by-side probes to find what works faster, just like the 1958-1962 Harvard Pigeon Lab.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Catania (2002) tells the story of the Harvard Pigeon Lab between 1958 and 1962. The lab ran many pigeon experiments at the same time, seven days a week.
Skinner and his team changed lights, food amounts, and schedules daily. They wanted to see how small shifts changed pecking rates.
What they found
The paper is not a new experiment. It shows that the lab's busy, side-by-side style sped up discovery.
Classic findings like Jenkins & Harrison (1960) came out of this rush of concurrent tests.
How this fits with other research
Hopkins et al. (1977) later repeated the Jenkins & Harrison tone test. They found the same steep pitch gradient, proving the original result held up.
JM (2024) built a new math model of concurrent choice. The model rests on the same VI-VI data pigeons gave daily in 1958-1962.
Horner et al. (2022) praise concurrent multiple-baseline designs for strong proof. The Pigeon Lab lived that idea by running many parametric tests together.
Why it matters
You can copy the lab's rhythm. Run two or three small parametric probes together instead of one long test. Shift one variable at a time and watch responding change. You will spot effective conditions faster and waste less session time.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
During the years 1958-1962, the final years of support by the National Science Foundation for B. F. Skinner's Pigeon Lab in Memorial Hall at Harvard University, 20 or so pigeon experiments (plus some with other organisms) ran concurrently 7 days a week. The research style emphasized experimental analyses, exploratory procedures, and the parametric exploration of variables. This reminiscence describes some features of the laboratory, the context within which it operated, and the activities of some of those who participated in it.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2002 · doi:10.1901/jeab.2002.77-327