Technical definition, clinical ABA application, discriminative non-examples, and test-day traps for behavior analysis candidates.
Rules specifying environmental arrangements and conditions under which reinforcement is delivered: Fixed Ratio (post-reinforcement pause with high run rate), Variable Ratio (high, steady rate without pauses), Fixed Interval (scallop pattern), and Variable Interval (moderate, steady rate).
A student earns a token on a Variable Ratio 5 (VR 5) schedule for reading sight words. Tokens are delivered after an average of 5 words (e.g., after 3, 7, 4, 6 words), maintaining a steady, fast pace.
Delivering a reward whenever the therapist feels the client has worked hard, without a systematic response or time criterion (unsystematic reinforcement).
VR schedules produce the highest resistance to extinction and the highest consistent response rates without post-reinforcement pauses.
A behavior analyst needs to maintain a newly acquired math calculation skill at a high, steady rate while eliminating post-reinforcement pauses. Which schedule of reinforcement is most appropriate?
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