Post-Reinforcement Pause

A post-reinforcement pause is a brief stop in responding that follows the delivery of a reward under certain schedules of reinforcement, most notably fixed-ratio schedules that require a set number of responses before each reward is given. The pause tends to lengthen as the number of responses required for each reward increases, and it is followed by a rapid return to a high, steady rate of responding until the next reward is earned. The pattern is treated as a signature feature that distinguishes fixed-ratio schedules from other schedules of reinforcement in operant conditioning research.