A doctor gives a patient in chronic pain a morphine pump to operate. The doctor tells the patient to press the button whenever she is in pain. The button press will result in a morphine injection, but only if it has been at least 1 hour since the last injection. The morphine pump is operating according to which schedule of reinforcement?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The morphine pump is operating on a fixed interval schedule, as the patient can only receive a reinforcement (injection of morphine) if it has been at least 1 hour since the last injection. This is a fixed interval because the time interval is fixed at 1 hour. Option A (fixed ratio) and Option B (variable ratio) both involve reinforcing a behavior after a certain number of responses, which is not the case here. Option C (variable interval) involves reinforcing a behavior after varying amounts of time have passed, which is also not the case here as the interval is fixed at 1 hour.

A Doctor Gives a Patient in Chronic Pain a Morphine