AE Files

APPLETON-CENTURY-CROFTSNEW YORKSchedules ofReinforcementC. B. FERSTERB. F. SKINNER1957
Described:
1957, C. B. Ferster and B. F. Skinner, from work at Harvard University
Source:
Schedules of Reinforcement
Subjects:
Pigeons and rats

A variable reward arrives after an unpredictable number of tries. Skinner’s pigeons pecked a key for grain. When grain came after a fixed number of pecks, they pecked and paused. When it came after a number that varied at random, they pecked without stopping. The unpredictable schedule produced the fastest pecking, and the pecking lasted longest after the grain stopped.

The schedule moved from the laboratory to the casino floor and from there to the phone. A slot machine pays on a variable ratio. A feed does too. Most pulls return nothing and some return a message, a like or a piece of news. The hand learns the pull. The timing of the reward matters more than its content.

FIG. 1 FOUR REWARD SCHEDULESVARIABLE RATIOFIXED RATIOVARIABLE INTERVALFIXED INTERVALTIMERESPONSESTICK = REWARD

The Cumulative Record (1957)

Each line is one schedule. The pen climbs with every response and ticks at every reward. A steeper line means faster responding. The variable ratio line is the steepest on the page.

The Machine Zone (2012)

Natasha Dow Schüll spent fifteen years studying machine gambling in Las Vegas. Players described a state in which time, money and the body disappear. They called it the zone. The machines are tuned to keep players there.

FIG. 2 THE NEAR MISS7BARBAR77BARTHE THIRD SEVEN STOPS ONE ROW HIGH
FIG. 3 THE GESTURELISTPULLNEW, SOMETIMES

Pull to Refresh (2009)

Loren Brichter built the gesture for the Twitter client Tweetie. Drag the list down, release, wait. Sometimes something new appears. The gesture has the structure of a slot machine lever, and it became a standard across mobile apps.

Attention Economy

Next file · Market
Attention EconomyMarket NextScroll on for the next file