ABSTRACT
This chapter considers operant and respondent behavior as separate domains. Respondent behavior is elicited by the events that precede it, and operants are strengthened by stimulus consequences that follow them. The chapter explains the several areas of research on respondent–operant interrelationships and explores the role of operant contingencies for respondent behavior. It discusses the biological context of conditioning and taste aversion learning. Marion and Keller Breland conditioned the behavior of a variety of animals for circus acts, arcade displays, advertising, and movies. Biofeedback involves operant control of seemingly involuntary, automatic activity. Instruments are used to amplify and observe interoceptive bodily responses, which typically are regulated by respondent processes. Cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research in brain–computer interface also is using reinforcing feedback from robotic-limb movement and relative position to train efficient use of these neuroprostheses. In the 1960s, researchers attempted to show that involuntary reflexive or autonomic responses could be conditioned by operant procedures.
