Quasi-reinforcement: control of responding by a percentage-reinforcement schedule.

The team chopped a regular VI schedule into tiny FI pieces. Each piece ended with either food or a brief blackout.

They watched how lab animals responded to these mixed mini-schedules. The blackout never gave food, just darkness.

Response rates doubled when blackouts were part of the deal. The animals also sped up as each mini-interval ticked toward its end.

The blackout acted like a tiny reinforcer, even though it gave no food. The authors called this 'quasi-reinforcement.'

KINTSCH (1965) had already mapped normal VI timing. Neuringer et al. (1967) now show you can bend that timing by slipping in blackout chunks.

Bacon-Prue et al. (1980) later wrote the math for VI feedback. Their equation helps explain why blackout chunks speed things up.

Delamater et al. (1986) treated VR as VI plus feedback. Both papers break big schedules into parts to see rate changes, one with blackouts, one with math loops.

You can use brief non-food events—lights off, screen blank, short beep—to keep responding high during lean VI spells. Next time you thin a reinforcement schedule, try inserting a two-second blackout after some responses. Track if the learner speeds up like the 1967 animals did. This trick may ease the transition from dense to thin reinforcement without extra edible treats.