What is the difference between interval and ratio reinforcement

Click on the thumbnail below to enlarge. Schedules of Reinforcement. Schedules of reinforcement are the rules that determine how often an organism is reinforced for a particular behavior. The particular pattern of reinforcement has an impact on the pattern of responding by the animal.

A schedule of reinforcement is either continuous or partial. The behavior of the Fire Chief Rabbit to the left was not reinforced every time it pulled the lever that "operated" the fire truck. In other words, the rabbit's lever pulling was reinforced on a partial or intermittent schedule. There are four basic partial schedules of reinforcement. These different schedules are based on reinforcing the behavior as a function of a the number of responses that have occurred or b the length of time since the last reinforcer was available.

Continuous Schedule. The continuous schedule of reinforcement involves the delivery of a reinforcer every single time that a desired behavior is emitted. Behaviors are learned quickly with a continuous schedule of reinforcement and the schedule is simple to use.

As a rule of thumb, it usually helps to reinforce the animal every time it does the behavior when it is learning the behavior.

Later, when the behavior is well established, the trainer can switch to a partial or intermittent schedule. If Keller Breland left reinforces the behavior touching the ring with nose every time the behavior occurs, then Keller is using a continuous schedule. Partial Intermittent Schedu le. With a partial intermittent schedule, only some of the instances of behavior are reinforced, not every instance. Behaviors are shaped and learned more slowly with a partial schedule of reinforcement compared to a continuous schedule.

However, behavior reinforced under a partial schedule is more resistant to extinction. Imagine that you are training a pigeon to peck at a key to receive a food pellet. You put the bird on a variable-interval 30 VI schedule. This means that the pigeon will receive reinforcement an average of every 30 seconds.

It is important to note that this is an average, however. Sometimes the pigeon might be reinforced after 10 seconds; sometimes it might have to wait 45 seconds. The key is that the timing is unpredictable. Ever wonder what your personality type means? Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter.

Lattal KA. Delayed reinforcement of operant behavior. J Exp Anal Behav. Bouton ME. Why behavior change is difficult to sustain. Prev Med. Marshall AT, Kirkpatrick K. Everywhere and everything: The power and ubiquity of time. Int J Comp Psychol. Nevin JA.

Resistance to extinction and behavioral momentum. Behav Processes. While you initially used continuous reinforcement, reinforcing the behavior every time is simply unrealistic. In time, you would switch to a partial schedule to provide additional reinforcement once the behavior has been established or after considerable time has passed. There are four schedules of partial reinforcement:. Fixed-Ratio Schedules. Fixed-ratio schedules are those in which a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses.

This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer. An example of a fixed-ratio schedule would be delivering a food pellet to a rat after it presses a bar five times. Variable-Ratio Schedules.

Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule. In a lab setting, this might involve delivering food pellets to a rat after one bar press, again after four bar presses, and then again after two bar presses.

Fixed-Interval Schedules. Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval but slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer.

An example of this in a lab setting would be reinforcing a rat with a lab pellet for the first bar press after a second interval has elapsed. Variable-Interval Schedules. Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response. Deciding when to reinforce a behavior can depend on a number of factors.

In cases where you are specifically trying to teach a new behavior, a continuous schedule is often a good choice. Once the behavior has been learned, switching to a partial schedule is often preferable. In daily life, partial schedules of reinforcement occur much more frequently than do continuous ones. For example, imagine if you received a reward every time you showed up to work on time. Over time, instead of the reward being a positive reinforcement, the denial of the reward could be regarded as negative reinforcement.

Instead, rewards like these are usually doled out on a much less predictable partial reinforcement schedule. Not only are these much more realistic, but they also tend to produce higher response rates while being less susceptible to extinction.

Partial schedules reduce the risk of satiation once a behavior has been established. If a reward is given without end, the subject may stop performing the behavior if the reward is no longer wanted or needed. For example, imagine that you are trying to teach a dog to sit.

If you use food as a reward every time, the dog might stop performing once it is full. In such instances, something like praise or attention may be more effective in reinforcing an already-established behavior. Operant conditioning can be a powerful learning tool.