Effectiveness of intermittent cash incentives to increase step counts

Batchelder et al. (2025) asked 20 office workers to wear a step counter for four weeks. The team used an ABAB reversal design: two weeks with no pay, two weeks with cash, then back to no pay, then cash again.

During cash weeks, each person who hit a personal step goal entered a daily drawing. One in every five winners got $20. The rest got nothing. That is an intermittent reward.

Step counts jumped as soon as the ticket game started. They dropped when the game stopped, and rose again when it came back. On average, people walked 2,300 more steps on reward days.

Only one in five wins actually paid, but the chance alone kept everyone moving.

Russell et al. (2018) showed that plastic tokens can work like snacks for kids with autism. Tokens kept their power even after the children ate candy first. Batchelder’s cash tickets do the same thing for adults: small, uncertain payoffs still pull behavior.

Aggarwal et al. (2026) warn that behavior can bounce back when you change the setting. Batchelder’s team saw the same quick bounce, but in the good direction: steps fell when cash left and rose the moment it returned. The reversal pattern matches Aggarwal’s warning and proves the incentive, not luck, drove the change.

Older lab work by Jones et al. (1992) found that meaningless words can become reinforcers if they signal future events. Cash tickets are the same idea: a simple cue tied to a future chance of money keeps people walking.

You can use cheap, intermittent payoffs to lift adult fitness. One $20 prize kept 20 people walking for days. Try a weekly raffle for staff or parents who meet step goals. Track baseline first, then run the raffle for two weeks, stop, and bring it back. The reversal will show you—and them—that the game, not willpower, moves the numbers.