Operant Conditioning Lab Protocol Summaries

Fixed Ratio (FR)

• House light and stimulus light above the correct lever turn on. Once the FR has been satisfied, a reward is issued, followed by a Time Out (TO). Both levers are inactive during the TO, but still count as incorrect if pressed during TO.

Fixed Interval (FI)

• Reward is delivered only when a single response has occurred after the fixed interval value has expired.
• The house light and stimulus light above the correct lever turn on. Once the FI has been satisfied, a reward is issued, followed by a Time Out (TO). Both levers are inactive during the TO, but still count as incorrect if pressed during TO

Differential Reinforcement of Zero

• Responding (DRO)
• Reinforces nonresponse. A time-out interval follows reinforcement and/or the occurrence of a response. The DRO Time is user-defined, with a default of 20 seconds.

Inter-Response Time Greater Than

• Used to modify the rate of responding within an operant chamber. The independent variables define the interval between responses.
• The IRT is the minimum interval between responses required before reinforcement will be delivered.
• Example: if the IRT = 5 seconds, the first and second responses need to be separated by a minimum of 5 seconds to receive reinforcement.

Inter-Response Time Less Than

• Used to modify the rate of responding within an operant chamber. The independent variables define the interval between responses.
• The IRT is the maximum interval separating responses.
• Example: if the IRT = 5 seconds, then the inter-response interval must not exceed 5 seconds in order for the reward to be delivered.