Stimulus control Flashcards
Why is context important?
It shapes our behaviour
What does context as occasion-setting mean?
Environmental conditions/cues that establish the context in which a specific behaviour is more likely to occur
What are antecedent stimuli?
Environmental cues/signals/conditions present before a behaviour occurs
What are internal antecedents?
Internal states that modify our behaviour, e.g., hungry, bored
What are the three cues that signal the availability of a reward/punishment?
- Certain/setting events that are environmental, contextual, or the context that will modify for influence the behaviour but they are not signalling the reward/punishment
- Motivational/establishing operators increase the effecitveness of the reward
- Abolishing operators are the opposite
When is a behaviour under stimulus control?
When there is an increased probability that the behaviour will occur in the presence of a specific antecedent stimulus
What is a discriminative stimulus?
The antecedent stimulus that is present when a behaviour is reinforced - the stimulus which signals the availability of reinforcers
What is stimulus delta?
Stimulus in the presence of which a behaviour is not reinforced - signals that the reinforcer will not be available
What happens in discrimination training?
Responses that occur in the presence of the discriminative stimulus are reinforced, while responses that occur in the presence of stimulus delta are not reinforced
What is excitatory and inhibitory strength according to Spence (1936) in discrimination training?
Excitatory strength is increased when a response to a specific stimulus is reinforced.
Inhibition strength is increased when a response to a specific stimulus is not reinforced.
What are the 4 four points that suggest stimulus control is in effect?
- Person responds to the disrcriminative stimulus promptly every time it’s given.
- Don’t get the behaviour in the absence of the discriminative stimulus.
- Don’t see the behaviour in response to some other discriminative stimulus.
- Don’t get some other behaviour in response to the discriminative stimulus.
What are prompts?
Supplementary stimuli given before or during the performance of a behaviour, that increases the likelihood that the person will engage in the correct behaviour at the correct time
Why do we need prompts?
Not all operant behaviours are triggered naturally by the discriminative stimulus
What is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?
Classical - trigger a natural reflex, e.g., Pavlov.
Operant - learn to behaviour in a specific way
Are prompts antecedents?
Yes
What are the two types of prompts?
Response prompts and stimulus prompts
What are response prompts?
Involve acting/aiding directly with behaviour - any prompt that is provided as a supplement to the discriminative stimulus and the target is to induce the target behaviour
What are the types of response prompts?
Verbal prompts, modelling, physical guidance
What are verbal prompts?
Give verbal instruction to aid/supplement the discriminative stimulus
What is modelling?
You model the target behaviour
What is physical guidance?
Physically move the participants to show them how to do the behaviour
What are stimulus prompts?
Involve supplementing the stimulus itself - might involve a change in the discriminative stimulus or the stimulus delta that makes the discriminative stimulus more salient and stimulus delta less salient
What are the types of stimulus prompts?
Movement, position and redundancy prompts
What are movement prompts?
Make the disrcriminative stimulus more salient, e.g., move correct stimulus closer to participant
What are position prompts?
Modify the position of the correct stimulus to be closer to the participant
What are redundancy prompts?
Modifying an aspect of the stimulus, e.g., make discriminative stimulus bigger
What is prompt fading?
A way to transfer stimulus control from the prompts to the discriminative stimulus
What are the types of prompt fading techniques?
Most-to-least prompting, least-to-most prompting, time delay
What is most-to-least prompting?
Start with the most help and little by little withdraw the help
What is least-to-most prompting?
Start with helping with the minimum and if they can’t perform the behaviour, increase the assistance until they can
What is time delay?
Progressively increase the time delay between the discriminative stimulus and the prompt until they don’t need the prompt any more
What are some things to remember when choosing prompt/fading techniques?
Each learner is unique, learners perform better when using procedures they’ve been exposed to before, choose a prompt that facilitates fading, less intrusive procedure possible
What is discrimination training?
A process in which an individual/organism learns to respond differently to two or more stimuli
