Question

Compare and contrast a fixed-time schedule of reinforcer delivery and a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement.

Answer 1

Operant conditioning is a learning process in which the occurence of a behavior is either strengthened by reinforcement or is weakened by punishment.

Schedules of reinforcement refer to the rules of delivering the reinforcement. The rules specify either the time that needs to be passed, or number of responses that need to be made, or both, before the reinforcement is provided.

Fixed-time (FT) schedules of reinforcement involve the delivery of reinforcement, independent of the behavior, after a set period of time has elapsed. That is, the reinforcement is delivered after a specified time period has elapsed, irrespective of whether the participant has provided the required response or not.

For example, in a lab rat experiment in which the lab rat is being trained to press a lever in order to receive food as a reinforcement, suppose the FT schedule is set at 15 seconds. The rat will receive the food pellet after each 15th second, whether it has pressed the lever or not.

Whereas, a Fixed-interval (FI) reinforcement schedule is the one in which the first response that is occurring, after a specified period of time has elapsed, produces a reinforcement. That is, the reinforcement is delivered on the first desired response made, after a set period of time has elapsed.

For example, in the same lab experiment in which the lab rat is being trained to press the lever in order to receive food pellets as reinforcement, suppose the FI schedule is set at 10 seconds. The rat will receive the food pellet on its first response of pressing the lever after every 10 seconds pass. If the rat presses the lever twice after 10 seconds have passed, it will be reinforced on only the first response, not on any subsequent responses. Also, if the rat doesn't press the lever at all after 10 seconds, it will not receive any reinforcement in that period.

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