CentralNotice Operant conditioning From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search Diagram of operant conditioning Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning ) is a type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences. Instrumental conditioning was first discovered and published by Jerzy Konorski and was also referred to as Type II reflexes . Mechanisms of instrumental conditioning suggest that the behavior may change in form, frequency, or strength. The expressions "operant behavior" and "respondent behavior" were popularized by B. F. Skinner who worked on reproduction of Konorski's experiments. [ 1 ] The former refers to "an item of behavior that is initially spontaneous, rather than a response to a prior stimulus, but whose consequences may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behavior". [...