ABA Fundamentals

A conjunctive schedule of reinforcement.

HERRNSTEIN et al. (1958) · Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior 1958
★ The Verdict

Reinforcement can require both a time wait and a response count at the same moment.

✓ Read this if BCBAs who build token or fluency systems with timed plus counted goals.
✗ Skip if Clinicians looking only for ready-made data sheets.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

HERRNSTEIN et al. (1958) wrote a theory paper. They asked, 'What if one reinforcer needs two things at once?'

They drew a new schedule. The animal must wait a set time AND hit a set number of responses. They called it conjunctive FI FR.

02

What they found

The paper gave no data. It only defined the schedule and said it could exist.

03

How this fits with other research

Lea (1976) later ran the first real test. Rats worked under the same two-part rule. Moderate FR add-ons made pauses longer and runs faster. Big FRs broke the pattern.

Rapport et al. (1982) moved the test to humans. College students showed three clear FI styles. Low-rate students earned more food when the FR was added. The theory held across species.

SIDMAELLIOTT et al. (1962) looked similar but used a chained FI FR. In a chain, the two parts happen one after the other. In the conjunctive, both rules apply at the same time. Same parts, different wiring.

04

Why it matters

You now have a name for 'wait AND count' programs you already write. Token boards with a timer and a response goal are conjunctive schedules. Start small on the ratio side; too big a number can shut the client down, just like the rats in Lea (1976).

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→ Action — try this Monday

Check your token board: if it needs 5 tokens in 2 min, you are running conjunctive FI FR—note if the ratio is too high and pauses grow.

02At a glance

Intervention
not applicable
Design
theoretical
Finding
not reported

03Original abstract

In a fixed-interval schedule, the event that programs the reinforcement of a response is the passage of a specified period of time without reinforcement. Rein- forcement on a fixed-ratio schedule depends upon the occurrence of some fixed number of unreinforced responses.4 The conjunctive fixed-interval, fixed-ratio schedule combines these two schedules by arranging that a response is reinforced only after the passage of the time period and the emission of some minimal number of unreinforced responses.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1958 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1958.1-15