Chapter 5: Operant Conditioning Procedures: Discrimination Training, Shaping, Fading, and Chaining Flashcards
Briefly explain what is meant, in behavioural sport psychology, by an ABC analysis.
The cues that exist just prior to the occurrence of operant behaviour are often called antecedents. Identifying the antecedents and consequences of operant behaviour is sometimes referred to as an ABC (antecedents, behaviour, and consequences) assessment.
Define or describe each of the following and give a sport example of each that is not in this chapter: a) good stimulus control b) discriminative stimulus c) extinction stimulus
a) Good stimulus control: refers to a strong correlation between occurrence of a particular stimulus and the occurrence of a strong particular response. An example is the stimulus of a flat green exerting control over the behaviour of aiming at the hole, and the stimulus of a sloped green exerts control over aiming away from the hole. This is good stimulus control occurring here.
b) Discriminative stimulus (SD): If an event has been correlated with the availability of a reinforcer for a particular operant behaviour, then that event is called a discriminative stimulus for that response. SD is a signal that a particular response will pay off. An example of this is the view of an open net is an SD for a soccer player, a cue that aiming the ball towards the net would be reinforced by the player making the shot.
c) Extinction stimulus (SE): if an event has been correlated with extinction trials for a particular operant behaviour, then that event is called an extinction stimulus for that response. Thus, an SE is a signal that a particular response will not pay off. An example is the soccer player again, when he is at a certain angle of the field, aiming at the net will not pay off as the goalie will block his shot easily, and so the view of the net acts as an SE. It tells him that in the presence of a particular stimulus (the view of the net from a certain angle with the goalie in a certain position), the response (aiming at the net) will not pay off.
Define operant stimulus discrimination training and give an example that illustrates the procedure and the result that are not in this chapter.
It refers to a) The procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus and extinguishing that response in the presence of an extinction stimulus and b) two results including: 1. Good stimulus control in that the response consistently occurs to the discriminative stimulus, and 2. A stimulus discrimination in that the response occurs to the SD and not to the SE. An example of this is: the soccer player learned to aim at the net instead of directly at the goalie when taking a penalty shot. Aiming at the goalie became an SE (it would not pay off) and aiming at the net elsewhere became an SD (it would pay off).
Define operant stimulus generalization and give an example that illustrates the procedure and the result that are not in this chapter.
This is a) the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a stimulus or situation, and b) the result that the response becomes more probable not only in that situation but also in the presence of another stimulus or situation. An example of this is a basketball player learning to aim at another player’s chest when passing the ball, and always passing at their chest even when a bounce pass is needed. This is stimulus generalization.
Define latency of behaviour, and describe an example that is not in this chapter.
Latency of behaviour is also known as “reaction time”. An example of this is the time between the jump ball being thrown up and the player jumping to tap it to their team.
Define prompt and describe an example.
A prompt is a supplemental antecedent stimulus provided to increase the likelihood that a desired behaviour will occur, but that is not the final stimulus that will control the behaviour. An example is a coach modelling the correct form for a young basketball player to use, and then gradually fading away the prompts over trials.
Distinguish between fading and shaping.
Fading is the gradual change over successive trials of an antecedent stimulus that controls an operant response so that the response eventually occurs to a partially changed or completely new antecedent stimulus. Shaping is the reinforcement of successive approximations of, or increasingly close attempts at, correct execution, one approximation at a time, until the desired response occurs.
