Response-produced timeouts under a progressive-ratio schedule with a punished reset option.
Animals will accept mild pain to escape hard work, showing timeout is a negative reinforcer when reinforcement control weakens.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Smith (1974) let pigeons peck for food on a progressive-ratio schedule. After every food delivery the birds had to peck more times for the next piece.
A second key was always available. One peck on it gave the bird a 3-minute timeout from the task. If the pigeon pecked this key, it also got a quick electric shock.
The question: would birds take the shock just to earn a break?
What they found
Most pigeons rarely used the timeout key when the shock was weak. When the shock was strong, they pecked the key and took the shock to escape the work.
Birds took the timeout early in the ratio step, right when the peck requirement jumped. Breaks came only when the work load felt worse than the shock.
How this fits with other research
Dardano (1973) ran almost the same setup but with no shock. Pigeons still took breaks, showing that rising work alone can make timeout reinforcing.
Dunham et al. (1969) showed that even short 5-second timeouts cut rapid pecking. Together these studies prove timeout can punish, reinforce, or escape, depending on the context.
Green et al. (1975) looked like a contradiction: removing timeout after shock lowered responding, hinting timeout strengthens behavior. The difference is timing. In L’s study timeout came right after shock, so it acted like food. In F’s study the bird had to work more after each shock, so timeout acted like relief.
Why it matters
Timeout is not just a punishment tool. For your client it can be an escape hatch when demands grow too fast. Watch when the child asks for a break. If it happens right after you raise the task length, the child is doing what the pigeons did—trading a small cost for relief. Fade demands more slowly or mix in easy tasks so the break response is not the only way out.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Track the trial number when the client first asks for a break; if it follows a demand jump, lower the next ratio step.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Three behavioral options were available to food-deprived pigeons: (1) pecking one key resulted in food reinforcement according to a 50-response progressive-ratio schedule, (2) pecking a second key reset the progressive-ratio schedule to the initial progressive-ratio step, and (3) pecking a third key produced a 3-min timeout period. Pecks on the reset key were shocked. Under low and intermediate shock intensities, timeouts were not produced; under high shock levels, timeouts were produced regularly. Timeouts occurred during the initial period of a progressive-ratio step and were more frequent during the longer steps of the progressive-ratio schedule. Response-produced timeouts under these experimental conditions could be interpreted either as an escape from aversive behavioral options or as a low-probability behavior emerging when the food reinforcement schedule exerted weaker control.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1974 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1974.22-103