Immediate postsession feeding reduces operant responding in rats.

Heinicke et al. (2012) worked with lab rats to see when food should be given after a session. They compared two setups: food right away, or food delayed a few minutes.

The team ran two kinds of schedules. One made the rat work harder and harder for each pellet. The other paid off after random time gaps. They counted how much the animals pressed the lever under each plan.

Rats that ate right after the session gave up sooner on the hard task. Their breakpoint—the last ratio they finished—was lower.

On the random-time schedule the same rats also pressed more slowly. A short wait for food kept the behavior stronger.

Kirby et al. (1981) also changed food timing. They withheld food if the rat pressed. The animals stopped pawing and started nosing the lever instead. Both studies show that when food is harder to get the form or strength of pressing changes.

Miller et al. (2022) worked with children, not rats. They thinned reinforcement after functional communication training and saw problem behavior drop. Their thinning plan and the rat delay both weaken behavior, but Miller did it inside the session while R et al. did it after.

Page et al. (2017) slowed down rapid eating in a teen with autism by adding a 'wait' prompt. Like the rat study, the key was timing—controlling when food could be eaten changed the behavior that came before it.

If you give a client a snack the second therapy ends you may accidentally blunt the response you just shaped. Wait five or ten minutes instead. This small pause keeps the operant strong for the next day's trials.