How Schedules of Reinforcement Work

Schedules of reinforcement play an important role in operant conditioning, which is a learning process in which new behaviors are acquired and modified through their association with consequences. Reinforcing a behavior increases the likelihood it will occur again in the future while punishing a behavior decreases the likelihood that it will be repeated.

Why do schedules of reinforcement matter so much? When and how often we reinforce a behavior can have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response.

This article discusses what schedules of reinforcement are, the different schedules that can be used, and which one is best depending on the learning goals.

What Are Schedules of Reinforcement?

Schedules of reinforcement are rules stating which instances of behavior will be reinforced. In some cases, a behavior might be reinforced every time it occurs. Sometimes, a behavior might not be reinforced at all.

Reinforcement schedules take place in both naturally occurring learning situations as well as more structured training situations. In real-world settings, behaviors are probably not going to be reinforced every time they occur. In situations where you are intentionally trying to reinforce a specific action (such as in school, sports, or in animal training), you would follow a specific reinforcement schedule.

Some schedules are better suited to certain types of training situations. In some cases, training might call for one schedule and then switch to another once the desired behavior has been taught. The two foundational forms of reinforcement schedules are referred to as continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement.

Continuous Schedules of Reinforcement

In continuous reinforcement, the desired behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs. This schedule is best used during the initial stages of learning to create a strong association between the behavior and response.

Imagine, for example, that you are trying to teach a dog to shake your hand. During the initial stages of learning, you would stick to a continuous reinforcement schedule to teach and establish the behavior. This might involve grabbing the dog's paw, shaking it, saying "shake," and then offering a reward each and every time you perform these steps. Eventually, the dog will start to perform the action on its own.

Partial Schedules of Reinforcement

Once the response is firmly established, a continuous reinforcement schedule is usually switched to a partial reinforcement schedule. In partial (or intermittent) reinforcement, the response is reinforced only part of the time. Learned behaviors are acquired more slowly with partial reinforcement, but the response is more resistant to extinction.

Think of the earlier example in which you were training a dog to shake. While you initially used continuous reinforcement, reinforcing the behavior every time, long after the dog has learned the trick, 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. Two are ratio schedules, which are schedules based on how many responses have occurred. The other two are interval schedules or schedules based on how much time has elapsed.

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 30-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.

An example of this would be delivering a food pellet to a ​rat after the first bar press following a one-minute interval; a second pellet for the first response following a five-minute interval; and a third pellet for the first response following a three-minute interval.

Schedules of Reinforcement and Extinction

Once a reinforcement is stopped, the response starts to decline. This is referred to as extinction, or the length of time the response continues when the reinforcement is no longer applied. Typically, fixed schedules of reinforcement are more prone to extinction while variable schedules are more resistant.

Extinction can result in undesirable side effects. One is called a response burst, which is when the response temporarily increases in amount, magnitude, or duration before becoming extinct. Another is response variability, which often includes the development of other problematic behaviors to get the same response.

Examples of Schedules of Reinforcement

Schedules of reinforcement can be applied in different settings. They can be used in education, for instance, such as by reinforcing students after a certain number of assignments have been completed or after going a certain amount of time without any behavioral issues.

An example of using schedule of reinforcements in a parenting scenario is when potty training a child. You might start by giving the child a piece of candy every time they use the potty (fixed-ratio). Then, you may transition to only providing reinforcement after using the potty several days in a row (either fixed-interval or variable-interval).

Schedules of reinforcement can also be used in applied behavioral analysis or ABA. In this case, reinforcers are used to improve some type of behavior. For instance, research has found that these schedules may be beneficial for helping people with intellectual or developmental difficulties improve communication behaviors.

Using the Appropriate Schedule

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 punishment.

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.

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.

A Word From Verywell

Operant conditioning can be a powerful learning tool. The schedules of reinforcement used during the training and maintenance process can have a major influence on how quickly a behavior is acquired, the strength of the response, and how frequently the behavior is displayed.

In order to determine which schedule is preferable, consider different aspects of the situation, including the type of behavior that is being taught and the type of response that is desired.