Education, study and knowledge

Interval programs in learning psychology: how do they work?

Within the Psychology of Learning, there is behavior therapy, which tries to modify patterns of maladaptive behavior 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 schedules are intended to increase the probability of occurrence of one or various behaviors. Within these we find interval programs, which we will see next.

  • Related article: "The 22 types of reinforcement schedules in psychology"

Continuous and intermittent reinforcement schedules

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

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

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, that is, sometimes it is reinforced and sometimes it is not.

Thus, in turn, within intermittent reinforcement programs, we can differentiate various 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 the interval programs, in which the reinforcement criterion is the time elapsed since the last reinforcer was presented.

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

Interval Program Features

As we have mentioned previously, in this type of programs the reinforcement not only depends on the emission of the response but also that a certain amount of time has elapsed since the submission of the last enhancer. So, responses produced during the interval between reinforcers do not trigger the presentation of the reinforcing stimulus.

We must not forget that the reinforcer is not only presented by the passage of time, but it is also necessary for the subject to issue 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 with ratio programs.

Interval Program Types

There are two types of interval programs: those of Fixed Interval (IF) and those of Variable Interval (IV). On 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, they will receive a reinforcement (it is essential that the time be effective and that you are not doing or thinking about something else) (interval permanent).

In the variable interval, and continuing with the previous example, the procedure is more efficient, 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.

On the other hand, once the interval ends and the reinforcer is available, it can remain so until the response is emitted in an unlimited way. (single interval programs) or only a certain amount of time (limited wait interval programs), the latter being more common in the medium natural.

  • You may be interested in: "Behaviorism: history, concepts and main authors"

Differences Between Fixed and Variable Interval Programs

Response rates vary depending on whether the program is fixed or variable; So, in the variables the response rates are higher than in the fixed ones.

Fixed interval programs, on the other hand, involve the development of a scalloped response pattern, which means pauses appear post-reinforcement and with them there is an increase in the response rate as time goes by and the availability of the drug becomes closer. enhancer.

Post-reinforcement pauses are pauses that occur after the reinforcer has been given.. The duration of these is greater when the value of the ratio or the level of satiety of the person or animal in which the intervention is being performed increases.

An example of IF would be studying for term exams; instead, an IV would be to study 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

This kind of programs 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 encourage the appearance of appropriate behaviors.

Another area in which they can be used is that of addictions. Specifically in tobacco addiction. J.M. Errasti, from the University of Oviedo, carried out an experiment that showed that variable interval programs or schedules elicit lower rates of adjunctive smoking behavior in humans than interval schedules permanent.

Bibliographic references:

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

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