Within the Psychology of Learning, there is behavioral therapy which tries to modify maladaptive behavior patterns through the application of learning principles.
To do this, psychologists manipulate environmental rewards and punishments. They have a series of behavior modification programs aimed at establishing, increasing, reducing and eliminating behaviors.
More specifically, reinforcement programs aim to increase the probability of occurrence of one or more behaviors. Within these we find interval programs, which we will see below.
Continuous and intermittent reinforcement programs
It is necessary to differentiate, within reinforcement programs, two general types of programs, which, as we will see later, encompass others.
On the one hand there are continuous reinforcement programs, in which the behavior is reinforced whenever it appears. On the other hand, we have intermittent reinforcement programs: The emission of the operant behavior is not always followed by the reinforcing stimulus that is, sometimes it is reinforced and sometimes not.
Thus, in turn, within intermittent reinforcement programs, we can differentiate several types.
There are reason programs, in which the reinforcement criterion is the number of times the behavior we want to promote has appeared.
Different from the previous ones are interval programs, in which The reinforcement criterion is the time elapsed since the last reinforcer was presented.
Finally there are rate schedules: the reinforcement criterion is the time that has passed since the last response.
Features of interval programs
As we have mentioned previously, in this type of programs, reinforcement not only depends on the emission of the response but also on whether a certain time has elapsed since the presentation of the last reinforcer. So, responses produced during the interval between reinforcers do not trigger presentation of the reinforcing stimulus.
We must not forget that the reinforcer is not presented only due to the passage of time, but it is also necessary for the subject to emit the response. The end of the interval determines when the reinforcer is available, not when it is delivered.
Increasing the interval time decreases the overall response rate (both in fixed and variable programs), the same as happens with ratio programs.
Types of interval programs
There are two types of interval programs: those of Fixed Interval (IF) and those of Variable Interval (IV). In fixed ones, the interval is always the same amount of time. In variables, however, this amount of time can change.
Thus, for example, whenever the child manages to spend a set amount of time studying, he/she will receive reinforcement (it is essential that the time is effective and that he/she is not doing or thinking about something else) (fixed interval).
In the variable interval, and continuing with the previous example, the procedure is more effective, because the child does not know when the reinforcement is going to occur, and this forces him to act correctly permanently. The advantage is that when the program ends, the extinction of the desired behavior occurs slowly, that is, the desired behavior lasts longer over time.
On the other hand, once the interval ends and the reinforcer is available, it can remain that way until the response is issued in an unlimited manner (simple interval programs) or only an amount of time (limited waiting interval programs), these being last most common in the natural environment.
Differences between fixed and variable interval programs
Response rates vary depending on whether the program is fixed or variable; So, In the variable ones the response rates are higher than in the fixed ones.
On the other hand, fixed interval programs involve the development of a scalloped response pattern, which means that post-reinforcement pauses appear and with them there is an increase in the response rate as time passes and the response rate decreases. making the availability of the reinforcer closer.
Post-reinforcement pauses are pauses that appear once the reinforcer has been given. The duration of these is longer when the value of the reason or the level of satiety of the person or animal in which the intervention is being carried out increases.
An example of IF would be studying for quarterly exams; On the other hand, an IV would be studying for surprise exams (the student knows that they will appear in “X” week, but does not know the exact day).
Applications: clinical and educational practice
These types of programs They can be used in isolation, or be part of more complex behavior modification programs.
For example, they are widely used, as we mentioned at the beginning, to improve children’s behavior and enhance the emergence of appropriate behaviors.
Another area in which they can be used is addictions. Specifically in tobacco addiction. JM Errasti, from the University of Oviedo, conducted an experiment that demonstrated that variable or random interval programs cause the appearance of lower rates of adjunctive smoking behavior in humans than fixed interval programs.
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