Term
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Definition
| Any stimulus or event that changes the probability of operant behavior. There are three kinds of controlling stimuli; sD, s^, and Save. An sD increases the probability of response and an s^ makes responding less likely. An Save may increase or decrease the likelihood of operant behavior, depending on the operant contingency. |
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| An event or stimulus that precedes an operant and sets the occasion for operant behavior. (antecedent stimulus) |
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| An S^ is a stimulus that sets the occasion for a decrease in operant responses. For example, an "out of order" sign on a vending machine decrease the probability of putting money in the machine. |
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Definition
| When an operant does not produce reinforcement, the stimulus that precedes the operant is called an S-Delta. In the presence of S-Delta, the probability of emitting an operant declines. |
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| When an organism makes a response in one situation but not in another, we say that the animal discriminates between the situations or makes a different response. |
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Definition
| When an organism makes a differential response to two or more stimuli (or events), we can say that the animal discriminates between them. This process is called discrimination |
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| A sequence of discriminative stimuli and responses in which each response produces a change in the stimulus controlling behavior. Once established, each sD in the chain has two functions -as a conditioned reinforcer for the response that produced it, and a s a discriminative stimulus for the next response in the sequence. |
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Definition
| Two or more basic schedules (CRF, FR, FI, VI, VR) presented sequentially, each link ending with primary reinforcement( or in some cases extinction); the component schedules are signaled by discriminative stimuli. In other words, a multiple schedule is the same as a chain schedule, but each link produces primary reinforcement. |
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Term
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Definition
| This index compares the rate of response in the sD component with the sum of the rates in both sD and S^ phases iD = (sD rate) / (sD rate + S^ rate) The measure is a proportion that varies between 0.00 and 1.00. Using the iD measure, when the rates of response are the same in the sD and the S^ components, the value of iD is .50, indicating no discrimination. When all responses occur during the sD phase, the S^rate us zero and iD is 1. Thus, a discrimination index of 1 indicates a perfect discrimination and maximum stimulus control of behavior. Intermediate values of the index signify more or less control by the discriminative stimulus. |
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Term
| Differential Reinforcement of other Behavior (DRO) |
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Definition
Reinforcement for any behavior other than a target operant.
For example: After a period of time the applied behavior analyst delivers reinforcement for any behavior other than "getting out of the seat" in a classroom. The target behavior is on extinction and any other behavior is reinforced. |
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Term
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Definition
Behavior that is accidentally reinforced.
For example:
A parent may inadvertently strengthen aggressive behavior when a child is given his or her allowance just after fighting with a playmate. Switching from one alternative to another may accidentally reinforced on a concurrent schedule if the alternative schedule has a reinforcement setup. In this case the organism is accidentally reinforced for a change from one schedule to another. |
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| Contrast refers to an inverse relationship between the response rates for two components of a multiple schedule - as one goes up the other goes down. There are two forms of contrast; positive and negative. - Guttman |
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Term
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Definition
| Occurs when the rate of response in an unchanged component of a multiple schedule decreases with an increase in behavior in the other component. |
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Definition
| Positive contrast occurs when the rate of response in an unchanged component of a multiple schedule increases with a decline in behavior in the other schedule. |
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Definition
| The schedule of reinforcement following the target component (B) in a sequence of schedules (A > B> C) generates strong contrast that increases as training progresses. The strong contrast effect is called anticipatory contrast to distinguish it from the weak elicited responding by the preceding schedule. |
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Term
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Definition
An experimental result has generality when it is observed in different environments, organisms and so on.
For example: The principle of reinforcement generalizes over species, settings, responses, and reinforcers. In a pigeon, the peck for for relationship depends on the establishing operation of deprivation for food in the immediate past. |
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Term
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Definition
| Stimulus generalization occurs when an operant reinforced in the presence of a specific discriminative stimulus is also emitted in the presence of other stimuli. The process is called stimulus generalization because the operant is emitted to a new stimuli that presumably share common properties with the discriminative stimulus. |
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Term
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Definition
Generalization occurs when an organism responds to values of the sD (or fewer responses to the s^) that were not trained during acquisition. A generalization gradient is the function (graph) that relates values of the sD to a measure of response strength.
GUTTMAN & Kalish |
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Term
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Definition
| A shift that occurs in the peak of a generalization gradient away from an extinction s^ stimulus. |
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Term
| Absolute Stimulus Control |
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Definition
| When operants are regulated by the physical properties of one stimulus, this is called absolute stimulus control. |
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Term
| Relative Stimulus Control |
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Definition
The responding of an organism to differences between two or more stimuli.
For example:
A pigeon may be trained to peck in the presence of the larger of two triangles rather than to be the absolute size of a triangle. |
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Term
| Successive Discrimination |
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Definition
A procedure that is used to train differential responding. The researcher arranges the presentation of sD and S^ so that one follows the other.
For example: A multiple schedule is programmed so that a red light signals variable -interval food reinforcement. |
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Term
| Simultaneous Discrimination |
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Definition
In simultaneous discrimination, the sD and s^ are presented at the same time, and the organism is reinforced for responding to the relative properties of one or the other.
For example: A pigeon may be presented with two keys, both illuminated with white lights, but one light is brighter than the other. The bird is reinforceed for pecking the dimmer of the two keys. Pecks to the other key are placed on extinction. After training, the pigeon will peck the darker of any two keys. |
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Term
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Definition
In errorless discrimination, the trainer does not allow the organism to make mistakes by responding to the extinction stimulus (s^). Initially sD and s^ are very different, but differences between the stimuli are gradually reduced as training progresses. The procedure eliminates the emotional behavior generated by extinction with other discrimination training methods.
For example: Pigeons flap their wings in an aggressive manner and work for an opportunity to attack another bird during the presentation of the s^ on a multiple schedule. This behavior does not occur when errorless discrimination is used in training.
Errorless discrimination is difficult to reverse in comparison to standard discrimination.
Terrace - pigeons |
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Term
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Definition
| The transfer of stimulus control from one value of a stimulus to another. This is done by gradually changing a controlling stimulus from an initial value to some designated criterion. |
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Term
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Definition
A procedure that is used to investigate recognition of stimuli.
For example:
Kastak & Schusterman 1994
A pigeon may be presented with three keys. A triangle or sample stimulus is projected onto the center key. To ensure that the bird attends to the sample, the pigeon is required to peck the sample key. When this happens, two side keys are illuminated with a triangle on one and a square on the other, called the comparison stimuli. If the bird pecks the comparison stimulus that corresponds to the sample this behavior is reinforced and leads to the presentation of a new sample. Pecks to the non corresponding stimulus result in extinction and the next trial. |
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Term
| Delayed Matching to Sample |
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Definition
On a matching to sample task, the comparison stimuli, are presented some time after the sample stimulus is turned off.
Blough 1959 |
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Term
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Definition
The time between the offset of the sample stimulus and the onset of the comparison stimuli.
Grant 1981 |
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Term
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Definition
| The verb "remembering" (or forgetting) is used to refer to the effect of some event on behavior after the passage of time (as opposed to the noun "memory"). According to WHITE 2002, remembering is not so much a matter of looking back into the past or forward into the future as it is of making choices at the time of remembering. |
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Term
| Conditional Discrimination |
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Definition
| A differential response to stimuli that depends on the stimulus context. Consider a matching to sample experiment in which a bird has been trained to match to triangles and squares based on the sample stimulus. To turn this experiment into a conditional discrimination task, a house light is inserted that may be turned on or off. The bird is required to match the sample when the house light is on and to choose the non corresponding stimulus when the house light is off. Conditional matching to sample involves simultaneous discrimination of three elements in a display. The animal must respond to geometric form depending on the sample, to the correspondence or non correspondence of the comparison stimuli, and to the condition of the house light (on/off) |
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Term
| Differential Reinforcement |
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Definition
| In discrimination procedures, differential reinforcement involves reinforcement in the presence of one stimulus (sD) but not in other settings (s^). The result is that the organism comes to respond when the sD is presented and to show a low probability of responding in the settings that have not resulted in reinforcement (s^). |
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