Within the Psychology of Learning, we find behaviour therapy , which tries to modify patterns of maladaptive behaviour by applying the principles of learning.

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 likelihood of occurrence of one or several behaviors. Among these we find the interval programs, which we will see below .

Continuous and intermittent reinforcement programs

It is necessary to differentiate, within the reinforcement programmes, two general types of programmes, which as we will see below include others.

On the one hand there are the continuous reinforcement programs, in which behavior is reinforced whenever it appears. On the other hand, we have the intermittent reinforcement programs: the emission of the operating behaviour is not always followed by the reinforcing stimulus , that is, sometimes it is reinforced and sometimes it is not.

Thus, within the programs of intermittent reinforcement, we can differentiate several types.

There are the programs of reason, in which the criterion of reinforcement is the number of times that the behavior we want to promote has appeared.

Different from the previous ones are the interval programs, in which the criterion of reinforcement is the time elapsed since the last reinforcer was presented .

Finally, there are the rate programs: the criterion for reinforcement is the time that has elapsed since the last response.

Characteristics of interval programs

As we have mentioned before, in this type of programme the reinforcement depends not only on the emission of the response but also that a certain time has elapsed since the presentation of the last reinforcer. Thus, the responses produced during the interval between enhancers do not trigger the presentation of the enhancer stimulus .

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We must not forget that the enhancer is not only presented by the passage of time, but it is also necessary that the subject emits the response. The end of the interval determines when the booster is available, not when it is delivered.

Increasing the interval time decreases the overall response rate (in both fixed and variable programs), as is the case with ratio programs.

Types of interval programs

There are two types of interval programs: Fixed Interval (FI) and Variable Interval (IV) . In the fixed ones, the interval is always the same amount of time. For variables, however, this amount of time may change.

Thus, for example, whenever the child manages to spend a set time studying, he/she will receive a reinforcement (it is essential that the time is effective and 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 take place, and this forces him to act correctly in a permanent way. The advantage lies in the fact that when the program is finished, the extinction of the desired behavior occurs slowly, that is, the desired behavior lasts longer in time.

On the other hand, once the interval is over and the booster is available, it can remain so until the response is issued in an unlimited way (simple interval programs) or only for a certain amount of time (limited waiting interval programs), the latter being more common in the natural environment.

Differences between fixed and variable interval programs

Response rates vary according to whether the program is fixed or variable; thus, for variables the response rates are higher than for fixed ones .

On the other hand, fixed interval programs imply 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 goes by and the availability of the booster gets 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 being intervened increases.

An example of an FI would be to study for quarterly exams; an IV would be to study for surprise exams (the student knows they will appear in “X” week, but does not know the exact day).

Applications: clinical and educational practice

This type of program 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 behaviour and encourage the emergence of appropriate behaviour.

Another field in which they can be used is that of addictions . Specifically, in tobacco addiction. J.M. Errasti, from the University of Oviedo, performed an experiment that showed that variable or random interval programs cause the appearance of lower rates of adjunctive smoking behavior in humans than fixed interval programs.

Bibliographic references:

  • Campos, L. (1973). Dictionary of the psychology of learning. Mexico: Editorial Ciencia de la Conducta.
  • Pérez Fernández, Vicente, Gutiérrez Domínguez, Mª Teresa, García García, A. and Gómez Bujedo, J. (2010). Basic psychological processes: a functional analysis. Madrid: UNED.