What Is PORTL

PORTL stands for the “Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab.”

PORTL is a tabletop game that provides an interactive environment for learning about behavior principles and investigating behavioral phenomena. It is played using a collection of small objects, a clicker to select behavior, and small blocks as reinforcers

PORTL had its beginnings in another game, called GENABACAB, which was developed by English dog trainer Kay Laurence. About a decade ago, Laurence taught this game to Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and his graduate students. The students started playing the game with each other and were hooked. They also began modifying the game to create an apparatus that could be used for teaching and research.

In 2019, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and Mary Hunter published the PORTL manual. The manual explains how to use PORTL to explore the principles of behavior, improve your teaching skills, and conduct research projects

Visit our PORTL Downloads & Videos for additional resources

Get your PORTL kit HERE

PORTL can be used for:

Teaching: PORTL allows students to see the principles of behavior in action and practice applying these principles to change behavior. It is essentially a portable Skinner box for humans. PORTL also builds empathy and understanding. While playing the role of the learner, students experience what their clients might be feeling.

Inquiry: Often, students have questions about how particular behavioral phenomena work, but do not have easy access to experimental equipment for asking these questions. PORTL can be used to model different behavioral phenomenon and ask questions about controlling variables. These types of exploratory projects help students improve their analytic skills.

Research: PORTL offers a convenient and low-cost apparatus for conducting research studies. In addition, the time required for each participant to complete a study is short, usually under an hour. This is an advantage both for recruiting participants and for teaching students how to design, implement, and refine experimental procedures.

For more information about PORTL, please see the article “The PORTL Laboratory” by Mary E. Hunter and Jesús Rosales-Ruiz, which was published in 2023 in the journal Perspectives on Behavior Science

Here is a link where you can read the article for free.

Further Reading

• In 2016, Operants, the quarterly magazine produced by the B. F. Skinner Foundation, published an article by Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and Mary Hunter called “PORTL: Your portable Skinner box.” Click on this link to download a copy of the magazine.
• Several master’s thesis studies at the University of North Texas have been conducted using PORTL. In May 2019, the first PORTL research study, The Power of One Reinforcer, was published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.
• Dr. Traci Cihon and her master’s students have used PORTL activities for the past several years to illustrate basic behavioral concepts to undergraduate students. Rob Goodhue, Szu Chi Liu, and Dr. Cihon recently published an article in the Journal of Behavioral Education that details how PORTL can be used in undergraduate classes.

Other information about PORTL can also be found on the Behaviour Explorer website