Describe continuous and intermittent reinforcement schedules and identify the four primary types of intermittent reinforcement schedules.

Continuous reinforcement means that the behavior is reinforced each and every time it occurs.This is the simplest reinforcement schedule.Intermittent reinforcement refers to a reinforcer being delivered after some,but not every,occurrence of the desired behavior.Intermittent reinforcement can be subdivided into (1)interval (reinforcement delivered after a period of time)or ratio (reinforcement delivered after a number of responses)schedules,and (2)fixed (not changing)or variable (constantly changing)schedules.Thus,there are four primary types of intermittent schedules: fixed interval,variable interval,fixed ratio,and variable ratio.