O.R. LINDSLEY'S LABORATORY RESEARCH

​​As you might be aware, fluency-based instruction and Precision Teaching evolved from more than a decade of incredibly productive, groundbreaking laboratory research by Ogden R. Lindsley. Lindsley brought Skinner's behavior science into the laboratory study of human
behavior, with a commitment to Skinner's measure, rate of response or (as Lindsley preferred to call it) behavior frequency.

This page contains a nearly complete archive of Lindsley's publications and unpublished reports produced prior to his transition from Harvard Medical School and the Behavior Research Lab at the Metropolitan State Hospital to the University of Kansas. We've assembled these documents here because many of those who practice fluency-based instruction and performance improvement have not had the opportunity to study Lindsley's earlier work, much of which is currently difficult to access.

Most of these documents came from B.H. Barrett's extensive collection of research papers (Barrett completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Lindsley and Skinner before building her own human behavior laboratory). Subsequent additions came from Lindsley's own archive of publications and reports, thanks to the generosity of Nancy Hughes, his long-time life partner.

Azrin, N.H., Lindsley O.R. (1956). The Reinforcement of Cooperation Between Children.  Journal of Abnormality & Social Psychology, 52(1), 100-103.

Lindsley, O.R. (1956). Operant conditioning methods applied to research in chronic schizophrenia. Psychiatric Research Reports, 5, 118-139.

Lindsley, O.R. (1956). Status Report 5, 9/1/55-5/15/56. Metropolitan State Hospital.

Lindsley, O.R. (1956). Annual Tech. Rpt. 3 - New Techniques of analysis of psychotic behavior & final T.R. for contract N5-ori-07662 9/1/55-11/15/56.

Lindsley, O.R. (1957). Operant behavior during sleep: a measure of depth of sleep. Science, 126(3286), 1290-1291.

Mednick, M.T., Lindsley, O.R. (1958). Some clinical correlates of operant behavior. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 57(1), 13-16.

Lindsley, O.R. (1959). Reduction in rate of vocal psychotic symptoms by differential positive reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2(269), 269.

Lindsley, O.R. (1960). Characteristics of the behavior of chronic psychotics as revealed by free-operant conditioning methods. Diseases of the Nervous system, Monograph supplement, 21(2) 66-78.

Lindsley, O.R. (1961). Final report.

Lindsley, O.R. (1961). Description of Filtered Voice Key Used to Record Psychotic Symptoms. Behavior Research Laboratory.

Lindsley, O.R., Hobika, J.H., Etsten, B.E., (1961). Operant Behavior During Anesthesia Recovery: a Continuous and Objective Method. Anesthesiology, 22(6), 937-946.

Barrett, B.H., Lindsley, O.R. (1962). Deficits in Acquisition of Operant Discrimination & Differentiation Shown by Institutionalized Retarded Children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 67(3), 424-436.

Lindsley, O.R. (1962). Operant conditioning methods in diagnosis. Chapter 8. The First Hahnemann Symposium on Psychosomatic Medicine.

Lindsley, O.R. (1962). Behavioral measure of television viewing. The Journal of Advertising Reseach, 2(3), 1-12.

Lindsley, O.R. (1962). Operant conditioning techniques in the measurement of psycho pharmacologic response. The First Hahnemann Symposium on Phychosomatic Medicine, 373-383.

Lindsley, O.R. (1962). Cumulative Records of Progress: 1963-1962. Behavior Research Laboratory.

Lindsley, O.R., Conran, P. (1962). Operant Behavior During EST: A Measure of Depth of Coma. Diseases of the Nevous System, 23(7), 1-4.

Lindsley, O.R. (1963). Direct measurement & functional definition of vocal hallucinatory symptoms. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 136(3), 293-297.

Lindsley, O.R. (1963). Free-Operant Conditioning and Psychotherapy. Current Psychiatric Therapies, 3, 47-56.

Lindsley, O.R. (1963). Experimental analysis of social reinforcement. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 33(4), 624-633.

Lindsley, O.R., Farber, S.M. (1963). Review of control of the mind. Contemporary Psychology, 8, 350-352.

Lindsley, O.R. (1964). Pavlovian conditioning & american psychiatry. Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Symposium Num. 9, 206-211.

Nathan, P.E., Schneller, P., Lindsley, O.R. (1964). Direct measurement of communication during psychiatric admission interviews. Behavior Research Therory, 2, 49-57.

Lindsley, O.R. (1965). Can deficiency produce specific superiority - the challenge of the idiot savant. Exceptional Children, 31(5) 225-232.

Levesque, P.R., Lindsley, O.R., Etsten, B.E. (1965) Amitriptyline (Elavil): A Sedating Antidepressant with Pressor Activity for Preoperative Medication. Canadian Anesthetists' Society Journal, 12(2) ,129-136.

Nathan, P.E., Marland, J., Lindsley, O.R. (1965). Receptive communicaiton in psychiatric nurse supervision. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 12(3), 259-267.

Morgan, B.J., Lindsley, O.R. (1966). Operant preference for stereophonic over monophonic music. Journal of Music Therapy.

Lal, H., Lindsley, O.R. (1968). Therapy of Chronic Constipation in a Young Child by Rearanging Social Contingincies. Behavior Research and Therapy.

Lindsley, O.R. (1969). Direct Behavioral Analysis of Psychotherapy Sessions by Conjugately Programed Closed-Circuit Television. Psychtherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 6(1), 71-81.

Lindsley, O.R. (1969). The Secret Life of William James. William James Unfinished Business, 35-43.

Lindsley, O.R. (1970). Procedures in Common Described by a Common Language.  Behavior Modification in Clinical Psychology, 221-236.

Lindsley, O.R. (1978). Conjugate Reinforcer Servo Model CR-2S. Behavior Research Company.

Lindsley, O.R. (1994). My Early Days of Behavior Analysis with Skinner: Light and Heavy Memories. Behavior Research Company.

Lindsley, O.R. (1996). In Memoriam Thomas F. Gilbert. The Behavior Analyst, 19(1), 11-18

Lindsley, O.R. (2004). Ogden R. Lindsley (1922-2004): Publications. This is a file containing all known publications of Ogden Lindsley, the founder of Precision Teaching and inventor of the Standard Celeration Chart. References include basic laboratory research prior to development of Precision Teaching.