A SYSTEM FOR PROGRAMMING EXPERIMENTS AND FOR RECORDING AND ANALYZING DATA AUTOMATICALLY.
The first plugboard box let researchers switch operant programs in seconds—today’s tablets echo that same speed.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors built a plugboard machine. It ran operant experiments without hand-wiring.
You could swap schedules in under a minute. The box also printed cumulative records by itself.
What they found
The paper shows blueprints, not client data. The rig worked. Labs could test many set-ups fast.
How this fits with other research
HERRICK (1965) came next. That paper tells how to graph the very curves the 1963 box printed.
Johnson et al. (1994) swapped the plugboard for digital sensors. They tracked every pigeon peck in real time.
Lotfizadeh et al. (2025) moved the idea into ABA clinics. They found tablets capture data just as well as paper.
Shih (2012) used a plain keyboard to do the same job for clients with developmental disabilities.
Why it matters
Today you tap an iPad to change programs. That ease started with this 1963 box. When you pick electronic data collection, you are using the grand-child of this machine. Remember: faster set-up means more teaching trials per session.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A system designed for use in complex operant conditioning experiments is described. Some of its key features are: (a) plugboards that permit the experimenter to change either from one program to another or from one analysis to another in less than a minute, (b) time-sharing of permanently-wired, electronic logic components, (c) recordings suitable for automatic analyses. Included are flow diagrams of the system and sample logic diagrams for programming experiments and for analyzing data.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1963 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1963.6-631