Kinesthetic operant bias in keyboard-based choice behavior

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn any type of behavioral research involving a choice element, the researcher must consider the possible methodological challenge of operant bias: a consistent preference for one operant over another. In the first experiment described in this article, originally designed to study the effect of number of prior repetitions of an operant on the frequency with which the operants were subsequently chosen for performance, systematic bias for certain operants over others—strong enough to override the programmed independent variable of the study—was observed. Since the operants in use involved typing non-word sequences of letters on the computer keyboard, it was initially believed that this bias was verbal in origin and related to the specific letter patterns used. The second experiment presented was then designed to remove this source of bias by replacing the letters on the keyboard with symbols. However, more systematic operant bias was observed in Experiment 2 than previously in Experiment 1. Ergonomic analysis of the specific keystrokes making up operants for which bias was observed in Experiment 2 points to three specific and quantifiable kinesthetic biases affecting human typing behavior. These results have implications for any future research involving operant behaviors which require the use of the computer keyboard.