Stimulus Control Flashcards
The Three-Term Contingency
A (antecedent) : B (behavior, response) -> C (outcome, either reinforced or punished)
Antecedent
stimuli, events, situations, or circumstances that are present when it occurs or were preset immediately before the behavior
- Antecedents (aka controlling stimuli)
- Controlling Stimulus (S):
- any type or events that changes the probability of an operant behavior
- two types of consequents controlling stimuli: reinforcers and punishers
Three types of antecedent controlling stimuli: S^D, S^(delta), S^(ave)
-Discriminative Stimulus (S^D)
-a stimulus that precedes an operant and sets the occasions for its reinforcement
-Extinction Stimulus (S^(delta))
- a stimulus that precedes an operant and sets the occasion for its non-reinforcement
- Pronounced S-Delta
-Discrimination occurs when
the presence (or absence) of stimuli is the occasion on which a response will be followed by reinforcement
- note: “setting the occasion for reinforcement” is a description of a environmental contingency
- e.g., key pecking reinforced when the green light is on. The green light IS the occasion when pecking will be reinforced
-discrimination refers to
the effect an occasion setting contingency has on behavior
i. e., refers to the effect of the response being more likely to occur in the presence of the S^D than its absence
- e.g., the bird eventually only pecks the hey when the green light is on
Controlling Stimuli
-stimulus control:
- a change in operant behavior that occurs when either a S^D or S^delta is presented
- we might is say:
- the light is functioning as a discriminative stimulus
- the pigeon is discriminating the two situations
- the light has acquired stimulus control over the pigeon’s behavior
Controlling Stimuli can be Complex
-hockey defenseman making the decision of who to pass to, speed of pass, who can he pass to, who is covered
The Stroop Effect
-saying the font color of the word (which is the name of a color)
The Discrimination Index
a measure of the stimulus control exerted by a S^D or S^DELTA
the larger the difference between he stimuli
the easier it is to discriminate
Differential Outcomes Effect (DOE)
- discrimination training proceeds more rapidly when different behaviors produce different reinforcers
- tone click signaled which lever to press for food
Stimulus Generalization
“The tendency for behavior to occur in situations different than the one on which the behavior was learned” (Paul Chance)
- generalization and discrimination refer to the precision of stimulus control
- discrimination is precise control
- generalization is less precise control
- generalization is obtained by training in a wide array of settings/stimuli
Concept Formation
- teaching Pigeons the “concept” of human
- Concept Formation is the:
- the generalization within classes of the stimuli
- the discrimination between classes stimuli
- “Strictly speaking, one doesn’t have a concept, just as one does not have extinction – rather, one demonstrates conceptual behavior by acting in a certain way”
-Natural Selection:
here’s always variation within species, making survival more likely depending on location and environment
-Artificial Selection (selective breeding)
-domestic animals, fish, livestock. Breeding animals on characteristics in which they find favorable
-Shaping (behavioral shaping)
- differential reinforcement of successive approximations of a target behavior
- e.g., Training a rat’s lever press
- reinforce when it approaches lever
- reinforce sniffing lever
- reinforce when paw touches
- reinforce a full depression of the elver
- Note: extinction of earlier steps can aid shaping because of the increased variability extinction produces
Marking the Behavior
“clickers” are sued so that an immediate conditionally reinforcing consequence is provided
Aids learning by providing immediate reinforcement and preventing accidental reinforcement of other behaviors
Tips for Shaping
- reinforce in small steps
- using continuous reinforcement
- immediately reinforce
- provide small (or conditional) reinforcers
- prevents satiation
- keeps focus on task
- skip ahead when possible
- back up when necessary
- following successful; shaping, move to intermittent schedules of reinforcement
Shaping of Motor Conditioning
- like shooting a basketball, we can shape our technique to increase our skill
- sensory and motor processes and constantly being shaped
- pairs of kittens raised in darkness
- apparatus was their first visual experience
- only the active (moving) kitten was able to pass visual-motor coordination tests despite both being exposed to the same stimuli
Shaping of Motor Conditioning
- like shooting a basketball, we can shape our technique to increase our skill
- sensory and motor processes and constantly being shaped
- pairs of kittens raised in darkness
- apparatus was their first visual experience
- only the active (moving) kitten was able to pass visual-motor coordination tests despite both being exposed to the same stimuli
Superstitious Behavior
- behavior that occurs even though it does not produce the consequence
- by-product of accidental reinforcement
- negatively reinforcing escape behaviors
- Human laboratory examples
- Catania and Cutts (1963)
- Wagner and Mirris
- Bruner and Revusky (1961)
Insightful Problem Solving
-some believe that behaviorism cannot account for the “eureka” moment
Insight of History of Reinforcement?
-Epstein, Kirshnit, Lanza and Rubin (1984)
- behavior emerged only when trained to
1. push box to various locations when trained to - pushing was extinguished in absence of green spot
2. climb box and peck
Note: the birds were not trained to push the box towards to banana
-Four other training variations resulted in the bird not completing the task
Self-Concept
-can we show the proof of a self-concept, how do we define
Creativity (i.e., Behavioral Variability)
- some researchers have argued that reinforcement produces response stereotypy
- original task (scawartz, 1982)
- get the red square to tithe bottom right corner
- only allowed to press each key for times
- problems with the original task
- the task is constrained by 4 responses on each key
- 5 presses resulted in a time-out from reinforcement (negative punishment)
-Page and Neuringer (1985)
- Conditions
- reinforcement was contingent on a novel pattern
- reinforcement was not contingent on novel patterns
- Result
- when reinforcement was contingent on novel responding, behavioral variability was substantially high
- Conclusion
- variability is a dimension of behavior that can be reinforced
- reinforce creative behavior and not just performance of a task
- Caution
- some studies claim to reinforce creativity but haven’t actually made the reinforcement contingent on the creative novel behavior
- they just reward performing the task and claim they have rewarded creativity
- often used as “evidence” that reinforcement inhibits creativity
Verbal Behavior
-function of language vs the from it takes, objectives conditions that influence a speaker and listener in their environment
