Final exam study guide Flashcards
What is an antecedent stimulus
An observable stimulus that is present before the behavior occurs.
What is discriminated operant behavior
operant behabior that is systematically influenced by antecedent stimuli
What is the definition of Sd
an antecedent stimulus that can evoke a specific operant response because the individual has learned that when the Sd is present that response will be reinforced
Example of sd
When the rat completes the behavior while the lights are on, it is rewarded with a pellet. (reinforced, ON)
What is the definition of S∆
an antecedent stimulus that decreases a specific operant response because the individual has learned that when the s delta is present, that response will not be reinforced (extinction).
Example of s∆
When the rat completes the behavior while the lights are off, it is not rewarded. (extinction, OFF)
What is the definition of Sdp
an antecedent stimulus that decreases a specific operant response because the individual has learned that when the SDP is present that the response will be punished.
Example of sdp
If you see a police car it signals to you that if you speed at that moment you’ll get a ticket.
Three terms of a 3-term contingency
The functional relation between antecedent behavior and a consequence.
Definition of discrimination training
a procedure in which an operant response is reinforced in the presence of an Sd and extinguished in the presence of an S∆
How has discrimination training been used to teach African rats to detect landmines?
TNT (the SD) or contains just dirt (the SΔ). When the rat lingers over the SD hole, a clicker is used to present a conditioned reinforcer, followed by a bit of tasty food. Between response opportunities, the location of the SD is randomly assigned. Rats soon learn to detect the smell of TNT, discriminating it from ordinary dirt.
Definition of generalization
when a novel stimulus resembling the sd evokes the response despite that response never having been reinforced in the presence of that novel stimulus.
Example of generalization
if a child learns how to zip up the jacket and is then also able to zip up the backpack, then the skill of using a zipper has been generalized
What is a stimulus-generalization gradient?
a graph depicting increases in responding as the novel antecedent stimulus more closely resembles the sd.
How are stimulus-generalization gradients shaped?
With a steep gradient.
What tactics are useful in promoting generalization?
- Teach behaviors that will contact natural contingencies of reinforcement
- Train diversely
- Arrange antecedent stimuli that will cue generalization.
What is a stimulus response chain?
Fixed sequence of operant responses, each evoked by a response produced SD.
- a series of responses that each trigger the next stimulus in the sequence: That is, Stimulus 1 (S1) leads to Response 1 (R1), which leads to S2, which leads to R2, which leads to S3, and so on.
How is a task analysis useful when teaching a stimulus-response chain?
teaching a task to an individual involves discrimination training with each stimulus-response component of the behavioral chain.
How is backward chaining used when teaching a stimulus-response chain?
teaching the final step of the task analysis initially and progressively teaching early components.
How is forward chaining used when teaching a stimulus-response chain?
teaching the links in the stimulus response chain the the order they will need to be emitted.
what do the letters mean in herrnstein’s matching equation?
B1 and B2 are the response rates for the two behaviors. R1 and R2 are the reinforcement rates for those behaviors.
“An organism’s relative rates of behavior will ‘match’ the relative rate of reinforcement”
