Slot Machines Pay Out On A Variableratio Interval

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Schedules of Reinforcement

Modified: 2020-03-27

The correct option is b.partial reinforcement schedule. Explanation: Slot machines pay off on a b.partial reinforcement schedule.In operant conditioning,once a behavior has been trained,the researchers or trainers turn to reinforcement schedule.One of the reinforcement schedule is partial reinforcement,meaning an organism does not get reinforced every time they perform desired. Variable-Ratio Reinforcement Schedule A variable-ratio reinforcment schedule uses a predetermined ratio while delivering the reinforcement randomly. Going back to the slot machine, let's say that you once again are the casino and want the slot machine to pay out 20% of the time, or every fifth time on average.

One of the major discoveries of operant conditioning was that notonly do reinforcers have the power to cause responses to be made moreoften, but that how and when those reinforcers are delivered alsoaffects the pattern of responses. Controlling the how and when ofreinforcement is a reinforcement schedule.

Schedules are of two main types, time-based and response-based.Time-based schedules usually contain the word interval, as in timeinterval. Response-based schedules usually contain the word ratio,referring to the ratio of responses over time.

Fixed interval (FI) schedules reinforce any response madeafter a given interval measured from the preceding reiforcement is reinforced. A given interval is indicated by the addition of a number to the letter FI (minutes, usually).Thus, in FI 5 the first response which occurs five minutes or more after the preceding reinforcement is reinforced. (Thanks to Julie Vargas)

Fixed ratio (FR) schedules deliver a reinforcer based upon a constant number of responses. For example, a FR-15 schedule woulddeliver a reinforcer every 15th response.

Variable ratio (VR) schedules are similar to fixed ratio, except that the number of responses required for a reinforcer changes each time. So, a VR-15 schedule would deliver a reinforcer over anaverage of 15 responses, not on every 15th response.

Interval

Let's examine some everyday examples of reinforcement schedulesand their effects. A paycheck is a good example of an FI schedule.Workers get a check once a week, for example, if they show up andwork. They do not get rewarded for working harder, or penalized forworking less. /how-many-slot-machines-does-winstar-casino-have.html. Workers who work by the piece or by the job, piecework,are paid more if they produce more, and are paid less if they produceless. Piecework is an example of an FR schedule. Workers typicallywork harder on FR schedules than they do on FI schedules.

Gambling is the classic example of a VR schedule. Part of theallure of gambling is its uncertain payoff. Imagine a slot machinethat paid off every 10th time; only the 10th pull would be exciting.A real slot machine, on the other hand, pays off on a random basis,so each pull is exciting. VR schedules maintain behavior at very highrates.

About the best everyday example of a VI schedule that I can thinkof is working for a shady character. This person pays you, but younever know when payday is going to be. It could be a week, two weeks,a month. So, you don't work very hard. You would probably jump toanother job if the pay were the same but given regularly.

Back to Chapter 6 Lectures The Rat in Your Slot Machine: Reinforcement Schedules

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When gamblers tug at the lever of a slot machine, it is programmed to reward them just often enough and in just the right amount so as to reinforce the lever-pulling behavior - to keep them putting money in. Its effect is so powerful that it even overrides the conscious knowledge most players have that in the long run, the machines are programmed to make net profit off of customers, not give money out.

Slot machine designers know a lot about human behavior, and how it is influenced by experience (learning). They are required by law to give out on average a certain percentage of the amount put in over time (say 90% payout), but the schedule on which a slot machine's reinforcement is delivered is very carefully programmed in and planned (mainly small and somewhat randomly interspersed payoffs). Interestingly, this effective type of reinforcement schedule originally comes from studies with non-human animals.

Slot Machines Pay Out On A Variableratio Interval Ratio

When you put rats in a box with a lever, you can set up various contingencies such that pressing the lever releases food to them. You could release food based on a fixed ratio of lever presses (every 10 presses drops some food), or a fixed interval (fifteen seconds must elapse since the last lever press before a new lever press will release food). Alternately, you could do it based on a variable ratio of presses (on average, it will take 10 presses to get food, sometimes more, sometimes less), or a variable interval (on average, food is available for pressing a lever every 15 seconds, but sometimes you have to wait longer, sometimes not as long).

A variable ratio schedule is perhaps the most interesting for the example of slot machines. If you make food available on a variable ratio, you can make sure food is given out often enough that the task remains interesting (i.e. the rat doesn't totally give up on pressing the lever), and you can also make it impossible for the rat to guess exactly when reward is coming (so it won't sit there and count to 10 lever presses and expect food; or it won't sit and wait 15 seconds before pressing the lever). Indeed, since the rat only knows it is somewhere in the range of when a reward might come, but doesn't know exactly on which press it is coming, the rat ends up pressing the lever over and over quite steadily. Other reinforcement schedules do not produce as consistent a pattern of behavior (the response curve is not nearly as steep or consistent).

Slot machine designers learned that lesson well and applied it to humans, for whom the same responses appear given a particular reward contingency. By providing payoffs on a variable ratio schedule, they give out money just often enough that people keep playing, and because it happens on average every X times, rather than exactly every X times, the players cannot anticipate when reward is coming (in which case they won't not bother playing when it was not coming). It is possible that any response could be reinforced, so they are less likely to give up. It keeps them in the seat the longest, tugging that lever repeatedly because it always feels like they are on the verge of getting paid off.

The lesson here is not just meant for gamblers. Our modern life is so full of coercive techniques aimed at controlling our behavior (based on principles of learning and conditioning like those mentioned above) that we have come to expect no less. We recognize that television commercials use tricks to convince us to buy products. We recognize that speech writers and marketing/P-R firms perform careful studies to determine how language and word choice contributes to supporting or extinguishing a behavior. These things still affect our behavior, but recognizing coercive techniques is one of our few defenses to avoiding their invisible pull. And so it is worth it for all of us to pick up a little knowledge about the field of learning and behavior analysis, to better understand how our own behavior is conditioned that we might take back as much control as possible.

Are Slot Machines Variable Ratio

Originally Written: 01-25-07
Last Updated: 01-25-07

Slot Machine Variable Ratio