The dynamics of successive induction in larval zebrafish.

McConkey et al. (2010) watched baby zebrafish swim under a microscope.

The tank lights went on, then off, then on again.

A camera tracked every tail flick to see if the dark spell changed later movement.

When dark followed light, the larvae burst into faster swims.

This lift is called successive induction: the prior light makes the next dark reaction stronger.

A short math rule predicted the burst size from the last light stretch.

Smith (1996) saw the same history effect in pigeons. After clustered short feeds, birds waited less even when the next delay was long.

Bernheim et al. (1967) found the mirror side: when rich reinforcement switched to lean, pigeons first dipped below baseline. R et al. show the jump side—facilitation instead of suppression—so the two papers frame opposite faces of schedule change.

Torres et al. (2011) later caught oscillations in rat choice that slowly settled. All four studies tell us the same lesson: what just happened rewires what happens next, and the effect fades with time.

Your client’s last five minutes set the stage for the next five. If you follow high-attention play with a tough math sheet, the contrast may spark a brief surge of escape behavior. Expect the dip or burst, wait it out, and reinforce the first calm response.