Business notes on Schedules of reinforcement
13/10/2019
Schedules of Reinforcement
"The schedule of reinforcement for a particular behaviour specifies whether
every response is followed by reinforcement or whether only some responses
are followed by reinforcement"
- Miltenberger (2007, p.86)
What is a Schedule of Reinforcement?
A schedule of reinforcement is a protocol or set of rules that a teacher will
follow when delivering reinforcers (e.g. tokens when using a token economy).
The “rules” might state that reinforcement is given after every correct response
to a question; or for every 2 correct responses; or for every 100 correct
responses; or when a certain amount of time has elapsed.
Broadly speaking there are two categories of reinforcement schedule, the first
being a "continuous" schedule and the other being an "intermittent" schedule.
A continuous schedule of reinforcement (sometimes abbreviated into CRF)
occurs when reinforcement is delivered after every single target behaviour
whereas an intermittent schedule of reinforcement (INT) means reinforcement
is delivered after some behaviours or responses but never after each one.
Continuous reinforcement schedules are more often used when teaching new
behaviours, while intermittent reinforcement schedules are used when
maintaining previously learned behaviours (Cooper et al. 2007).
Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement (CRF)
Within an educational setting, a CRF would mean that the teacher would
deliver reinforcement after every correct response from their student/s. For
example, if you were teaching a student to read the letters A, B, C, and D, then
everytime you presented one of these letters to your student and they correctly
read the letter then you would deliver reinforcement.
For an everday example, every time you press the number 9 button on your
television remote control your TV changes to channel 9; or every time you turn
on your kettle it heats up the water inside it; or every time you turn on your
kitchen tap (faucet) water flows out of it (unless any of these are broken of
course).
Intermittent Schedules of Reinforcement
There are four basic types of intermittent schedules of reinforcement and these
are:
Fixed-Ratio (FR) Schedule.
Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule.
Variable-Ratio (VR) schedule.
Variable-Interval (VI) schedule.
Fixed-Ratio Schedule (FR)
A fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement means that reinforcement should be
delivered after a constant or “fixed” number of correct responses. For example,
a fixed ratio schedule of 2 means reinforcement is delivered after every 2
correct responses. The chosen number could be 5, 10, 20 or it could be 100 or
more; there is no limit but the number must be defined.
Generally, when writing out a fixed-ratio schedule into the discrete trial script
it is shortened into just “FR” with the number of required correct responses
stated after it (Malott & Trojan-Suarez, 2006). For example, choosing to
reinforce for every second correct response would be written as “FR2”;
reinforcing for every fifth correct response would be an “FR5”; for every 100
correct responses would be an “FR100” and so on.
Note that when running an ABA programme, you may see the reinforcement
schedule defined as “FR1”. Technically this is a continuous reinforcement
schedule (CRF) but to keep in line with how other ratio schedules are defined it
is written using the “FR” abbreviation and so is written as “FR1”.
Variable-Ratio Schedule (VR)
When using a variable-ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement the delivery of
reinforcement will “vary” but must average out at a specific number. Just like a
fixed-ratio schedule, a variable-ratio schedule can be any number but must be
defined.
For example, a teacher following a “VR2” schedule of reinforcement might give
reinforcement after 1 correct response, then after 3 more correct responses,
then 2 more, then 1 more and finally after 3 more correct responses.
Overall there were a total of 10 correct responses (1 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 10),
reinforcement was delivered 5 times and so reinforcement was delivered for
every 2 correct responses on average (10 ÷ 5 = 2). As can be seen in the image
below, reinforcement did not follow a constant or fixed number of correct
responses and instead “varied” and hence the name “variable-ratio” schedule of
reinforcement.
Fixed-Interval Schedule (FI)
A fixed-interval schedule means that reinforcement becomes available after a
specific period of time. The schedule is abbreviated into “FI” followed by the
amount of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes available, e.g. an
FI2 would mean reinforcement becomes available after 2 minutes has passed;
an FI20 means 20 minutes must pass and so on.
A common misunderstanding is that reinforcement is automatically delivered
at the end of this interval but this is not the case. Reinforcement only becomes
available to be delivered and would only be given if the target behaviour is
emitted at some stage after the time interval has ended.
To better explain this say a target behaviour is for a child to sit upright at his
desk and an FI2 schedule of reinforcement is chosen. If the child sits upright
during the 2 minute fixed-interval no reinforcement would be given because
reinforcement for the target behaviour is not available during the fixed-interval.
If the child is slumped in his seat after the 2 minute interval elapses
reinforcement would still not be given because reinforcement is only now
available to be given. Just because he emitted the target behaviour (sitting
upright) during the interval does not mean reinforcement is delivered at the
end of the interval.
Say 10 more minutes pass before the boy sits upright, it is only now that he
has emitted the target behaviour and the interval is over that reinforcement
would be delivered. Once reinforcement is delivered then the 2 minute fixed-
interval would be started again. After the 2 minute fixed-interval had elapsed,
it could have taken 2 seconds, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 200 minutes or more
until the boy sat upright, but no matter how long it would have taken, no
reinforcement would be delivered until he did.
Variable-Interval Schedule (VI)
The variable-interval (VI) schedule of reinforcement means the time periods
that must pass before reinforcement becomes available will “vary” but must
average out at a specific time interval. Again the time interval can be any
number but must be defined.
Following a “VI3” schedule of reinforcement, a teacher could make
reinforcement available after 2 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 3 minutes, then
4 minutes and finally 1 minute. In this example, reinforcement became
available 5 times over a total interval period of 15 minutes. On average then,
three minutes had to pass before reinforcement became available (2 + 5 + 3 + 4
+ 1 = 15 ÷ 5 = 3) and so this was a VI3 schedule.
Just like a fixed-interval (FI) schedule, reinforcement is only available to be
delivered after the time interval has ended. Reinforcement is not delivered
straight after the interval ends, the child must emit the target behaviour after
the time interval has ended for the reinforcement to be delivered.
Source
Gavin Cosgrave, 2011
[Link]
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