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Related Concept Videos

Reinforcement Schedules01:24

Reinforcement Schedules

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Positive reinforcement is a powerful method for teaching new behaviors to both animals and humans. B.F. Skinner demonstrated this with his experiments using rats in a Skinner box. When a rat pressed a lever, it received a food pellet. This immediate reward encouraged the rat to repeat the behavior. This method, where a reward follows every instance of the behavior, is known as continuous reinforcement. It is highly effective for establishing new behaviors quickly.
Once a behavior is learned,...
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Timing and Consequences on Behavior01:08

Timing and Consequences on Behavior

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In operant conditioning, the timing of reinforcement is crucial. For animals like rats and cats, immediate reinforcement (within a few seconds) is much more effective than delayed reinforcement. For example, a food reward for a rat needs to follow within 30 seconds of pressing a bar to be effective. 
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Modified-Release Drug Delivery Systems: Rate-Programmed I01:22

Modified-Release Drug Delivery Systems: Rate-Programmed I

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Rate-programmed drug delivery systems (DDS) are designed to release drugs at specific, controlled rates to maintain consistent therapeutic levels. These systems are categorized based on their release mechanisms, including dissolution-controlled DDS, diffusion-controlled DDS, and combined dissolution-diffusion-controlled DDS.In dissolution-controlled DDS, the release rate depends on the slow dissolution of the drug itself or the surrounding matrix. Drugs with inherently slow dissolution rates,...
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Operant Conditioning Intervention01:24

Operant Conditioning Intervention

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Operant conditioning serves as a foundational principle in therapeutic interventions aimed at modifying maladaptive behaviors. Central to this approach is the notion that behaviors, both adaptive and maladaptive, are learned through reinforcement. By analyzing the environmental factors that reinforce problematic behaviors, clinicians can design interventions to weaken these reinforcements and replace maladaptive behaviors with healthier alternatives.
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Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

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Schedule-induced timeout: Effects of timeout-contingent delayed reinforcement.

Behavioural processes·2014
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Choice of timeout from fixed-time schedules: Comparison of two procedures.

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Choice of timeout during response-independent food schedules.

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Fixed-ratio discrimination: effects of intermittent reinforcement.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Three Laboratory Procedures for Assessing Different Manifestations of Impulsivity in Rats
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Timeout induced by differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedules.

T Lydersen1

  • 1Fircrest School, Seattle, Washington USA.

Behavioural Processes
|June 14, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Rats adjusted their behavior on differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedules by increasing timeout periods when schedules were longer. Reinforcement rate was key to managing timeout duration and frequency.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral science
  • Animal behavior studies
  • Operant conditioning

Background:

  • Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) schedules are used to study response timing.
  • Contingent timeout periods can alter behavior under DRL schedules.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how rats adjust to differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) schedules with contingent timeout periods.
  • To determine the factors influencing the duration and frequency of timeout periods.

Main Methods:

  • Three rats were trained on DRL schedules with varying durations (16s to 96s).
  • A second lever press initiated a timeout, turning off lights and preventing food access.
  • Responding during timeout reinstated the DRL schedule and illumination.

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Main Results:

  • Timeout percentage increased with longer DRL schedules and decreased with shorter ones.
  • Changes in timeout percentage were mainly due to mean timeout duration, not initiation rate.
  • Extinction of the timeout contingency increased timeout percentage.

Conclusions:

  • The rate of reinforcement significantly influences the proportion of session time spent in timeout.
  • Rats adapt their timeout behavior based on the DRL schedule length and reinforcement availability.