Behaviors observed during S- in a simple discrimination learning task.

Rand (1977) watched pigeons during the S- part of a simple discrimination task. The birds could peck a key or do other repetitive behaviors while the negative stimulus was on.

The team tracked how many pecks happened and how much time the birds spent on each activity. They wanted to know if slower responding meant the birds were pecking slower or just choosing to peck less often.

Pigeons kept the same fast pecking speed no matter what. The drop in responses came from switching time to other behaviors like pacing or preening.

Early in training the birds also sped up their overall tempo, but the main change was where they put their minutes, not how fast they moved.

Rilling et al. (1969) first showed pigeons divide time to match reinforcement odds. Rand (1977) adds that even during S- this time-split rule holds; the birds simply shift minutes away from the key.

Kazdin (1977) ran the same time-allocation test with rats choosing between wheel running and sugar water. The matching law still worked, showing the rule crosses species and responses.

Deluty et al. (1978) pushed the idea further into punishment: rats also matched their minutes to shock rates. Together these studies build a single rule: organisms allocate time, not muscle speed, to match obtained rates of both good and bad events.

When a learner looks slow, check what they are doing instead of the target response. The speed of the response itself may be fine; the child may just be allocating seconds to stereotypy, escape, or other available activities. Rearrange the environment, add competing items, or thin the schedule to pull time back to the target. Measure minutes engaged, not just response count — you may find the 'slowness' disappears once time is re-allocated.