The main objective of this project is to teach students, via intensive laboratory experiences, the principles and procedures of modern scientific psychology. A microcomputer-controlled general experimental psychology laboratory, including operant conditioning stations and biofeedback monitors, is being established to serve courses in experimental psychology, learning and conditioning, sensation and perception, social psychology, independent study, and a special topics course. In the new laboratories, students perform representative behavioral experiments using either animals or student volunteers as subjects. Microcomputers assist students in carrying out experimental procedures, collecting data, and performing statistical analyses. These "hands-on" laboratory experiences are teaching the principles and methodologies of scientific psychology more effectively than lecture-oriented pedagogies alone were able to do prior to the initiation of this project.
