Deck 8: Stimulus Control

Question 1

To keep the onset of S^D from reinforcing responses in S^Δ one needs to add a _____ contingency.

A) PRP
B) IRT
C) DRO
D) EXT

Answer 1

C

Question 2

When organisms respond in one setting and not another they are ______. When they behave similarly they are _____ across circumstances.

A) Anticipating; generalizing
B) Generalizing; discriminating
C) Discriminating; anticipating
D) Discriminating; generalizing

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A change in maximal generalization responding away from S^Δ to the other side of S^D is called:

A) Gradient shift
B) Peak shift
C) Stimulus control
D) Relative control

Answer 3

B

Question 4

A two-component schedule in which both components have separate stimuli is called a ______.

A) TAND
B) MIX
C) CONC
D) MULT

Question 5

A dog trained to detect volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the urine of men with prostrate cancer was _______ accurate in detecting these chemicals in urine during experimental tests (Browne, Stafford, & Fordham, 2006).

A) 93%
B) 83%
C) 73%
D) 63%

Question 6

_____ means that an organism responds to differences among the values of two or more stimuli.

A) Differential stimulus control
B) Absolute stimulus control
C) Discriminative stimulus control
D) Relative stimulus control

Question 7

If you trained a pigeon to turn a circle when a TURN sign was presented you could say the bird was _____.

A) Discriminating
B) Conceptually oriented
C) Reading
D) Superstitious

Question 8

The discovery of cones in the retinas of pigeons led to an understanding of visual sensitivity. Visual sensitivity allows for ______ of the world that improves the reproductive success of birds.

A) Retinal reinforcement
B) Operant discriminations
C) Respondent discriminations
D) Retinal contingency patterns

Question 9

When a woman suffering from anorexia chooses the thinner picture of herself as opposed to the actual or heavier photograph, she is demonstrating:

A) Discrimination
B) Peak shift
C) Respondent conditioning
D) Reinforcement

Question 10

A shaping procedure whereby control gradually changes from one element to another is called _______.

A) Transfer
B) Conditional discrimination
C) Fading
D) Approximations

Question 11

An S^D does not cause or elicit the appearance of a response the way a _____ does.

A) CS
B) CR
C) US
D) UR

Question 12

When an ______ is presented the probability of a response increases. When an _____ is presented the probability of response decreases.

A) S^D; S^∆
B) S^∆; S^D
C) S^D followed by a S^∆; S^∆ followed by a S^D
D) S^∆ followed by a S^D; S^D followed by a S^∆

Question 13

With careful shaping and fading one might develop a discrimination without _____.

A) Extinction
B) Reinforcement
C) Contrast
D) Errors

Question 14

An S^Δ sets the occasion upon which a response is ____ reinforced.

A) Always
B) Sometimes
C) Maybe
D) Never

Question 15

If changing contingencies of reinforcement on one schedule affect reinforced behavior on another schedule, ____ has occurred.

A) Behavioral activation
B) Extinction
C) Behavioral contrast
D) Discrimination

Question 16

If reinforcers on one schedule are depleted and responding in another schedule increases, we call this _____.

A) Substitutability
B) Positive contrast
C) Anticipatory contrast
D) Negative contrast

Question 17

The S^D and S^∆ are presented at the same time and the organism responds to one or the other during a ______ procedure.

A) Simultaneous discrimination
B) Successive discrimination
C) Absolute discrimination
D) Relative discrimination

Question 18

In operant conditioning the antecedent stimulus paired with reinforcement is called a/an ______.

A) S^D
B) CS
C) S^Δ
D) S-R-S

Question 19

From a behavioral analysis standpoint, a failure to learn is most likely caused by:

A) Problems with the contingency of reinforcement
B) Problems with the contingency of punishment
C) Problems with the organism's ontogeny
D) Problems with respondent behaviors

Question 20

Guttman and Kalish (1956) reinforced pigeons for pecking a particular color of light and then recorded their rate of pecking across the spectrum and found that:

A) The more the new stimulus differed from the one used in training, the lower the response rate
B) The more the new stimulus differed from the one in training, the higher the response rate
C) The pigeon responded the same regardless of the wavelength of light presented because reinforcement was on an interval schedule
D) The pigeon responded only to the wavelength presented in training originally

Question 21

Decreasing the rate of reinforcement in the middle component of a MULT schedule produces a strong increase in rate of responding in the component that precedes the changed component. This is known as:

A) Negative contrast
B) Anticipatory contrast
C) Substitutability
D) Positive contrast

Question 22

Belke and Pierce (2015) failed to replicate previously observed behavioral contrast effects with rats when they used wheel running and lever pressing as available responses. What explanation did they provide for this?

A) Automatic reinforcement for lever pressing interfered with contrast
B) Automatic reinforcement for wheel running interfered with contrast
C) Behavioral contrast only occurs when the responses have the same topography
D) Behavioral contrast only occurs when the reinforcers are the same

Question 23

The time between the offset of the sample stimulus and the onset of the comparison stimuli is usually called the ____.

A) Behavioral contingency
B) Discrimination index
C) Remembering index
D) Retention interval

Question 24

Which of the following would we expect from a participant that passes a test for generalized identity matching?

A) They are able to recognize themselves in multiple contexts (such as pictures or a mirror)
B) They can correctly match to sample when novel exemplars are presented
C) They can respond to multiple forms of address such as "you," their name, or pointing
D) They correctly match to sample for learned exemplars and do not respond when novel exemplars are presented

Question 25

Which of the following best illustrates the response chain for social referencing in infants?

A) S^D_{ambiguous stimulus} → R_reach → S^D_{look at parent} → Consequence
B) S^D_{ambiguous stimulus} → R_{look at parent} → S^D_{parent's expression} → R_reach → Consequence
C) S^D_{ambiguous stimulus} → R_reach → S^D_{parent's expression} → Consequence
D) S^D_{parent's expression} → R_{look at parent} → S^D_{ambiguous stimulus} → R_reach → Consequence

Question 26

When pecking the keys is based on line angle or form depending on the state of the houselight (on/off), we can say that the pigeon shows ______.

A) Simple generalization
B) Simple discrimination
C) Generalized discrimination
D) Conditional discrimination

Question 27

White and Brown (2011) trained pigeons in a delayed matching-to-sample procedure where a houselight was presented for the first 3 seconds of the retention interval and then turned off for the remainder of the interval. The results from this test can best be described as:

A) Consistent with "trace" accounts of memory in that performance increased as the retention interval increased
B) Consistent with the "trace" accounts of memory in that performance was slightly improved in short intervals where the houselight was turned off after 3 seconds
C) Consistent with discrimination accounts of memory in that performance improved slightly in conditions where the houselight was turned off after 3 seconds
D) Consistent with discrimination accounts of memory in that performance was highest in conditions where the houselight was presented during the entire retention interval

Question 28

Which of the following is not true regarding errorless discrimination training?

A) Fading is an important part of this procedure
B) Errorless discrimination training uses differential reinforcement
C) Errorless discrimination training is good in contexts where you wish to switch the functions for the discriminative stimulus and s-delta
D) Errorless discrimination training is good for teaching multiplication tables and standard word spellings.

Question 29

The operant procedure of fading involves:

A) Gradually introducing a new stimulus into the context
B) Gradually removing the reinforcement that maintains a behavior
C) Gradually changing the response requirement for reinforcement
D) Gradually changing the value or dimensions of a controlling stimulus

Question 30

When approaching an intersection with a stop light while driving a car, the presence of a green light acts as a _____________ for pushing the accelerator and as a ______________ for pushing the brake.

A) Discriminative stimulus; s-delta
B) S-delta; discriminative stimulus
C) Positive reinforcer; positive punisher
D) Positive punisher; positive reinforcer

Question 31

Concept formation studies demonstrate that nonhuman animals:

A) Cannot form general categories, but must learn about each stimulus individually
B) Can learn basic categories, such as shape or color, but cannot learn more abstract concepts
C) Can learn to differentiate between concrete relative differences between objects (such as bigger, smaller)
D) Can be trained to respond to abstract properties of objects (such as humanness, gender)

Question 32

Research by Pelaez and colleagues (2012) found that the mother's facial expression served as a ___________________ for their 4- and 5-month-old infants.

A) Positive reinforcer
B) Negative reinforcer
C) Discriminative stimulus
D) Extinction stimulus

Question 33

What is the discrimination index for a green light when the observed rate of responding in the presence of the green light is 50 responses per minute and the rate in the absence of the green light is 25 responses per minute?

A) 0.75
B) 0.67
C) 0.33
D) 0.25

Question 34

When the show Sesame Street presents a series of pictures on the screen and the jingle "One of These Things Is Not Like the Others" plays, the audience is being asked to:

A) Make a simultaneous discrimination
B) Make a successive discrimination
C) Engage in a matching-to-sample task
D) Form a concept around the stimuli on the screen

Question 35

The peak response rate observed during generalization testing for a pigeon trained with an S^Δ at 550 nm and an S^D at 530 nm would most likely be at:

A) 510 nm
B) 530 nm
C) 540 nm
D) 560 nm

Question 36

A pigeon trained on a MULT VI 60-s EXT 60-s schedule in which the VI schedule is signaled with a red light and extinction is signaled with a green light is not showing the development of any kind of stimulus discrimination. Which of the following might be a reason for this?

A) Superstition due to pecks that occur near the end of the EXT component
B) Positive contrast with the VI schedule
C) Negative contrast with the VI schedule
D) Retroactive interference with the VI schedule

Question 37

Hooded crows used in a test conducted by Wasserman and colleagues (2015) demonstrated the ability to pass a test for relational matching to sample training, something for which they had not been explicitly trained. To what did they attribute this finding?

A) Hooded crows are naturally able to do relational matching to sample tests
B) The crows' extensive training with identity matching to sample likely created a general relational concept
C) The crows were responding to unplanned, subtle differences in the stimuli
D) The crows were showing an ability that emerged from simpler training

Question 38

According to White's research, pigeons trained on a delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) procedure with a 5-second retention interval then tested in a procedure where the retention interval was systematically varied from 0 to 10 seconds would most likely show the greatest accuracy:

A) With a 0-second (no delay) retention interval
B) With a 2.5-second retention interval
C) With a 5-second retention interval
D) With a 10-second retention interval

Question 39

Responding "8" to the prompt "3 + 5" and "15" to the prompt "3 × 5" is an example of:

A) Concept formation
B) Generalization
C) Discrimination
D) Conditional discrimination

Question 40

One possible drawback of the errorless training method is:

A) This method has not been generalized to humans
B) The organism is much more prone to the effects of extinction
C) When the reinforcement contingency is changed the organism often continues to respond based on their initial training
D) This method discourages stimulus discrimination and promotes generalization