puzzle box

noun

, Psychology.

1. an enclosure, used in experiments in animal learning, from which an animal must escape or in which it must manipulate various devices.

Word History and Origins

Origin of puzzle box¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Her experiment showed that birds were able to learn how to liberate food from a puzzle box by copying the solution from others -- confirming that the original milk-raiding birds had also been passing on their thieving ways to their flock.

From Science Daily

Using an automated puzzle box system they developed, the team designed an experiment to test this immigration hypothesis.

From Science Daily

Each group was provided a tutor which was trained to access food from a puzzle box by either pushing the door left or right.

From Science Daily

Not only did immigrants see that residents were opening the puzzle box in a new way, but in some groups, the newcomers also discovered that residents scored a superior reward by doing so.

From Science Daily

With the connectome serving as a reference -- akin to a picture on a puzzle box serving as a guide for how a thousand pieces fit together -- the researchers used their observations of brain cells to develop a diagram they suspected represents the neuronal circuitry behind hue selectivity.

From Science Daily