Pigeons are placed in the operant conditioning chambers and receive a food pellet for pecking at a response key. Some pigeons receive a pellet for every response (continuous reinforcement) while others obtain a pellet only after a certain amount of time or number of responses have occurred (partial reinforcement). In the partial reinforcement schedules, some pigeons receive a pellet after they peck at the key five times. This is known as a fixed-ratio schedule. Pigeons in another group receive reinforcement after a random number of responses, which is known as a variable-ratio schedule. Still more pigeons are given a pellet after a 10 minute period has elapsed. This is called a fixed-interval schedule. In the final group, pigeons are given reinforcement at random intervals of time, which is known as a variable-interval schedule. Once the data has been obtained from the trials in the Skinner boxes, researchers can then look at the rate of responding and determine which schedules leads to the highest and most consistent level of responses. I wonder which one Entropia uses?
