SELECTIVE PUNISHMENT OF CONCURRENT PROGRESSIVE RATIO BEHAVIOR.
Punishment can clear one response but also spark useless switching and freezing.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Scientists put two levers in a rat box. Each lever needed more and more presses for the same food pellet. This is called a progressive ratio schedule.
They shocked the rat only when it pressed one lever. The other lever stayed shock-free. They watched which lever the rat chose next.
What they found
Rats quickly moved to the safe lever. But they also started switching back and forth too often. They even froze for long moments.
The punished lever was avoided, yet the animals acted less efficient overall. Punishment cut one behavior but added new problems.
How this fits with other research
Fontes et al. (2025) later used changing reward schedules. Their rats still picked the richer side even when both choices carried shocks. The 1964 fixed shocks look too simple today.
Deluty (1976) kept the same two-lever idea but varied how many shocks each side gave. He saw the same lever swap, yet without the odd pausing seen here.
Tyrer et al. (2009) used the same progressive ratio but asked how bigger treats change effort. They showed ratio schedules are useful for measuring motivation, even when punishment is added later.
Why it matters
When you add a punisher, clients may dodge that task but also show new odd moves like hopping between jobs or freezing. Check for these side effects. Before you punish, set a clear alternate path and watch for extra switching. This keeps treatment clean and avoids creating new problems to solve.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Key pecking of pigeons was reinforced with grain on a progressive ratio schedule during the presence of either of two key colors. Under one color, all responses were shocked; under the other color, responses were not shocked. A single response on a second key switched the key color and reset the progressive ratio, provided that the first step of the progressive ratio had been completed. A preference developed for the longer ratios of the progressive ratio under the non-shock key color. When the severity of punishment suppressed responding under the key color correlated with shock, the subjects continued to switch to the shock condition after a moderate degree of responding under the non-shock condition. Severe punishment also resulted in frequent, ineffective responses on the switching key and extended pausing under the key color associated with shock.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1964 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1964.7-51