 Hey everybody, welcome back. It's Veronica. So some of the difficulty that folks have with determining which schedules they're looking at is the fact that they all seem very similar to one another. How can you tell the difference between the different schedules that you're looking at? Let's begin first by talking about ratio and interval based schedules. Remember that these are all contingent on specific responses. Even an interval based schedule which requires a certain amount of time to pass, still requires that the organism emit a response and that response contacts reinforcement. But the big difference between ratio and interval based schedules is what happens when you respond faster? So if the learner responds faster and earns more reinforcers because they're responding faster, it's a ratio schedule because it's the number of times that the learner emits the response that matters. In a ratio based schedule, the faster you respond the more reinforcers you earn. If changing the level or speed of your responses doesn't make a difference, if responding faster does not produce more reinforcers, you're probably looking at an interval based schedule. In an interval based schedule, the primary determinant of whether or not the learner will contact the reinforcers, whether or not the time has passed to make that reinforcer available. A perfect example of an interval based schedule is a shooting star. If the learner in this case, if a person is reinforced by finding or seeing shooting stars, then it doesn't matter if they look more or look faster. Shooting stars are completely independent. They occur completely independent of whether or not we're looking for them. So there's nothing you can do to make stars fall out of the sky faster. This one is just, are you emitting the response at the right time? Let's do a couple of examples so you can try to determine which schedule reinforcement you're looking at. First, call center employee can earn a bonus pay for calling 40 or more customers per day. What schedule reinforcement is this? I would say that this is best described as a fixed ratio schedule. And it's ratio based because it's based on the number of responses that occur. And I said they can earn that bonus for calling 40 or more. So the contingency is fixed every time it's 40 people. In this case, I'd say this is fixed ratio. It's based on the number of responses. Calling faster means you earn that reinforcer faster. What about this one? A goalie can earn praise of peers when preventing a puck from entering the goal. Well, this one is a little bit beyond the control of the goalie because remember, you can only do your job as a goalie when the opportunity presents itself when there is a puck to defend against. Some goalies never, like the puck never comes toward their goal. So since this is beyond the control of the goalie, since there's nothing the goalie can do to increase the probability to defend faster, we're probably looking at some sort of interval based schedule. And I would say based on the schematics, based on the way that hockey occurs, it's probably a variable interval schedule because, you know, it's not like every five minutes that puck is coming toward your goal. Sometimes it can be never during a game. Sometimes it could be two or three, you know, within a few seconds. So this is probably a variable interval schedule. Another variable interval schedule, for instance, it's like TSA, you're going through TSA. Is this a ratio based schedule or an interval based schedule? Now it's definitely based on scanning luggage, but scanning luggage faster, scanning more luggage, doing more scans doesn't necessarily increase the probability that you're going to find an illegal device. Again, I think this is one that's time-based. It doesn't matter what it is that the TSA agent is doing, it's just dependent on other's responses. Another place where people struggle is telling a difference between time-based schedules. So remember we mentioned in the video on limited hold versus interval based schedule, if you earn reinforcement for responding before that period of time has ended, I'm showing you a time-based interval here with that vertical line indicating that's the end of the interval. If you have to admit all of your responses before the end of the interval or the deadline, you're looking at a limited hold pattern. But if you only earn reinforcement, if you respond after the interval is passed, then you're looking at an interval schedule. So what about this? You can get some extra math tutoring which could potentially increase your score in the course if you visit with the graduate teaching assistant after class. Is this a limited hold or is this a interval schedule? Well, I would say that this is very likely interval schedule because there's a period of time when the GTA is going to be unavailable. You have to wait until that period class has passed and then the opportunity to go and see them is available. However, if you have to do something before a time limit such as you get a tax refund, you can earn that tax refund but only if you file before April 15th. This is more akin to that deadline schedule, that limited hold schedule in both the interval based and the limited hold schedules. They both produce scallops. This question of where is the reinforcer? Does it occur before the time period is elapsed or can you only get it after the time period is elapsed? I hope that this helps clarify. If you have questions about these, make sure to reach out, ask those questions, get some clarification because this can be pretty tricky and we want to be here to help you. I'll see you guys next time.