Replacing traditional animal labs with an inexpensive alternative
We want to increase the number of psychology students who can get hands-on experience with animals.
Psychology labs have traditionally used rats and pigeons as animal models — but these models are costly to maintain and are often associated with ethical concerns. We aim to show how the discoid cockroach (Blaberus discoidalis) can be used as an alternative in the classroom. Cockroaches provide a simple animal model for demonstrating core concepts, are inexpensive to house and maintain, and raise fewer ethical concerns.
We have replicated some classic learning experiments using roaches and provide instructions you can use to re-create these experiments in your own courses.
You could also try replicating other published roach studies to help with the psychology replication crisis. Get in touch if you need help or want to post your experiment on the website for others to use.
The Roach Lab is led by Darby Proctor and Marshall Jones at Florida Tech
Darby Proctor
Associate Professor
School of Psychology, Florida Tech
Marshall Jones
Assistant Professor
School of Psychology, Florida Tech
Active teaching methods increase student learning outcomes, and live animals promote more undergraduate engagement than virtual models. Cockroaches are well suited for demonstrations and labs in learning and behavior courses.
