who demonstrated that a reflex could be conditioned to a neutral stimulus
Operant conditioning B.F. Skinner (1904â€“1990) is often referred to as the father of operant conditioning, and his work is frequently cited in connection with this topic. His book "The Behavior of Organisms",[5] published in 1938, initiated his lifelong study of operant conditioning and its application to human and animal behavior. Following the ideas of Ernst Mach, Skinner rejected Thorndike's reference to unobservable mental states such as satisfaction, building his analysis on observable behavior and its equally observable consequences.[6]
Blinded experiment Double-blind describes an especially stringent way of conducting an experiment which attempts to eliminate subjective, unrecognized biases carried by an experiment's subjects (usually human) and conductors. Double-blind studies were first used in 1907 by W. H. R. Rivers and H. N. Webber in the investigation of the effects of caffeine.[10]