The relation of amount of reinforcement to performance under a fixed-in-terval schedule.

STEBBINS et al. (1959) worked with rats on a fixed-interval schedule.

They varied how sweet the sugar water payoff was.

Then they counted lever presses to see if stronger reinforcers made the rats work faster.

Rats pressed more often when the sugar water was sweeter.

The richer reward pushed response rates up under the same time-based schedule.

LeBlanc et al. (2003) later showed that bigger reinforcers also make behavior harder to disrupt and sharpen stimulus discrimination.

Lecavalier et al. (2006) reframed the same idea: rats tune their rate to the peak of the feedback curve, not just to how much they get.

Gulley et al. (1997) moved the test to people with intellectual disabilities and found that higher reinforcer rates decide which picture gains control in a matching game.

All four studies line up: stronger or more frequent reinforcement lifts response rate and strengthens stimulus control.

If you want faster or more accurate responding, first check the reinforcer, not the prompt.

Swap in a higher-quality edible, shorten the stretch before delivery, or add an extra chaser praise.

Watch the rate climb within the same FI or VI schedule you already run.