Under Post Reinforcement with a fixed schedule, how does the animal typically pause between responses?

• A. The animal pauses after reinforcement, and the length of the pause is unrelated to the next requirement
• B. The animal never pauses
• C. The animal pauses as a function of the end of the current response and the upcoming response requirement
• D. The animal immediately begins the next response

Answer: (C)

After reinforcement on a fixed schedule, the animal typically pauses before starting the next bout of responding. That pause isn’t random; its length reflects how long the next reinforcement will take to occur given the upcoming requirement. In other words, the pause is determined by where the current response ends and what the upcoming response requirement will be. A longer upcoming requirement or a longer interval produces a longer postreinforcement pause, while a shorter one yields a shorter pause. This is why the best description is that the pause is a function of the end of the current response and the upcoming requirement.