A token reinforcement program, involving verbal participation in a weekly quiz, was established on a ward of 36 chronic, male, psychiatric patients.Variable ratio schedules of 20%, 33%, 66¾ and 80% were used to observe their effects on verbal response rate, and to compare these rates with 100% CRF and an extinction phase. The results did not lend support to the hypothesis that verbal response rate would vary according to the different VR schedules of reinforcement. However, results did indicate that the VR schedules produced significantly different rates of verbal participation as compared with verbal response rate during 100% CRF and extinction, supporting, in the latter case, an inverse relationship between the ratio of reinforcement and maintenance of responding during extinction. Deficiencies in the experimental design, and implications of the findings in the study, are discussed.