The problem addressed by this project is the outdated limiting experiences students receive in animal and human learning, animal cognition, and comparative psychology. The problem is pedagogical in the sense that students' exposure to animal research, a benchmark in psychological science, is not contemporary. The problem is theoretical because research involving complex visual and auditory stimuli cannot be conducted. It is methodological because human studies of operant phenomena, a source of controversy in the literature, are not easily conducted. It is academic because the proper methods, statistics, and design issues pertinent to a contribution to laboratory sciences are not possible. The objective is to provide flexible, powerful learning stations to study a range of species, a variety of visual and auditory stimuli, and a range of responses including ones directed toward the stimuli. Restructuring solves the pedagogical, theoretical, methodological, and academic problems the old laboratory faces. Special audiences targeted for the project include students in Introductory Psychology and in a variety of midlevel and advanced courses and independent studies in Biological and Behavioral Processes.
