Deck 8: Stimulus Control of Behavior

Question 1

Your friend has enrolled in a course in music training.The first part of the course involves learning to recognize different tones.Every time the students hear a middle C,they are to raise their right hands.Early in training you expect the stimulus generalization gradient to

A) be flat.
B) rise steeply just before the middle C mark, then drop immediately after.
C) rise to a high at middle C and remain there.
D) gradually rise and fall, with a peak at middle C.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A colorblind dog is trained to press a lever in the presence of a 590 nm wavelength colored light.The stimulus generalization gradient when the dog is tested in the presence of other colors will

A) be flat.
B) rise steeply just before the 590 nm mark, then drop shortly after.
C) gradually rise and fall, with a peak at 590 nm.
D) rise to a high at 590 nm and remain there.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Dogs trained on a go/no-go discrimination rather than a right-left discrimination learned to respond mainly to which feature of the cues?

A) quality
B) location
C) intensity
D) salience

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is a true statement about stimulus control?

A) Stimulus control frequently occurs without stimulus discrimination.
B) Stimulus control cannot occur without stimulus discrimination.
C) Stimulus control of behavior is constant across a species.
D) None of the above

Question 5

An animal demonstrates stimulus generalization when it

A) responds in a similar fashion to repeated presentations of the same stimulus.
B) responds in a different fashion to repeated presentations of the same stimulus.
C) responds in a similar fashion to two or more stimuli.
D) responds in a different fashion to two or more stimuli.

Question 6

Your roommate gets excited every time he receives mail.Even junk mailings bring him joy.His behavior towards the mail demonstrates

A) stimulus control.
B) stimulus discrimination.
C) stimulus generalization.
D) stimulus learning.

Question 7

The extent to which an organism learns about a stimulus depends on how easily other stimuli in the environment can become conditioned.This phenomenon is called

A) stimulus generalization.
B) discrimination.
C) sensitization.
D) overshadowing.

Question 8

A flat stimulus generalization gradient indicates that subjects are

A) not responding to conditioning.
B) responding similarly to several stimuli.
C) responding mostly but not exclusively to the test stimulus.
D) responding only to the test stimulus.

Question 9

A steep stimulus generalization gradient indicates that

A) the stimulus being varied has little stimulus control.
B) the subjects are demonstrating stimulus generalization.
C) the instrumental behavior is under the control of the stimulus feature being varied.
D) further testing is needed to determine if stimulus differentiation has occurred.

Question 10

In the presence of a tone/light cue,pigeons were trained to press a foot treadle to gain access to food or to avoid footshock.Subsequent investigations determined that responding in appetitive situations is more likely to be controlled by visual cues; responding in aversive situations by auditory cues.This demonstrates that

A) the type of instrumental response required is a determinant of stimulus control.
B) the sensory capacity of an organism is a determinant of stimulus control.
C) the type of reinforcement is a determinant of stimulus control.
D) the determinants of stimulus control are idiosyncratic.

Question 11

When pigeons are trained to earn access to food in the presence of a combined light/tone stimulus,the _____ is most likely to control the instrumental behavior.

A) light
B) tone
C) combined light/tone stimulus
D) Stimulus control is likely to vary widely across individuals.

Question 12

Assume you would like your therapeutic treatments to generalize to outside settings.Which of the following would you not do?

A) Conduct sessions in your office so the client comes to associate the cues of the office with preparing for treatment.
B) Use numerous exemplars during training.
C) Make the treatment procedure indiscriminable or incidental to other activities.
D) Make the treatment situation as similar as possible to the natural environment of the client.

Question 13

A training stimulus of a red square inside of a yellow circle was used in a keypeck experiment with pigeons.In a follow-up experiment,one trained pigeon was found to respond more to a red square than a yellow circle.Another trained pigeon responded more to the yellow circle.This demonstrates that

A) stimulus control did not develop in the initial training.
B) stimulus control developed only in the subject responding more to the red square.
C) stimulus control developed only in the subject responding more to the yellow circle.
D) stimulus control can vary from subject to subject.

Question 14

When pigeons are trained to respond to avoid shock in the presence of a combined light/tone stimulus,the _____ is most likely to control the instrumental behavior.

A) light
B) tone
C) context of the test chamber
D) Stimulus control is likely to vary widely across individuals.

Question 15

Your professor tells you that your dog is demonstrating stimulus discrimination.This means that

A) your dog is responding differently to two or more stimuli.
B) your dog is responding differently to repeated presentations of the same stimulus.
C) your dog is responding similarly to two or more stimuli.
D) it is time to find a new dog.

Question 16

When dogs were trained to lift their right or left legs in response to an auditory cue,the element that controlled the instrumental behavior was

A) the stimulus quality.
B) the stimulus location.
C) the reinforcer quality.
D) the reinforcer location.

Question 17

Which of the following best states the distribution of stimulus control over the instrumental behavior of pigeons?

A) Responding in both appetitive and aversive situations is likely to be controlled by visual rather than auditory stimuli.
B) Responding in both appetitive and aversive situations is likely to be controlled by auditory rather than visual stimuli.
C) Responding in appetitive situations is more likely to be controlled by auditory cues; responding in aversive situations by visual cues.
D) Responding in appetitive situations is more likely to be controlled by visual cues; responding in aversive situations by auditory cues.

Question 18

After eating a foot-long spicy chili dog at the homecoming game,your friend becomes violently ill.Now he cannot stand to eat chili,but still loves hot dogs.His ability to eat hot dogs was likely spared because of

A) discrimination training.
B) stimulus generalization.
C) overshadowing.
D) contextual conditioning.

Question 19

You are attempting to train your dog to sit.Every time you say the word sit and raise your hand,a friend pushes the dog into a sitting position.After a week of training,your dog sits when you speak the command,but still does nothing when you raise your hand.There may be a problem with _____ in this training.

A) generalization
B) overshadowing
C) discrimination
D) context

Question 20

Stimulus control of instrumental behavior is demonstrated by which of the following?

A) similar responding in the presence of similar stimuli
B) similar responding in the presence of different stimuli
C) differential responding in the presence of different stimuli
D) differential responding in the presence of similar stimuli

Question 21

The stimulus-element approach assumes that

A) stimulus elements maintain their individuality in their control of behavior even when in a compound stimulus.
B) stimulus elements maintain their individuality in their control of behavior except when in a compound stimulus.
C) stimulus elements maintain their individuality in their control of behavior only when in a compound stimulus.
D) stimulus elements act as a configuration to control behavior when they are presented in a compound stimulus.

Question 22

Suppose you want your goldfish to swim to the top of the tank only when you shine a red light,and no other color,into the water.Assuming the fish can see most colors,to condition the fish you should

A) train it only with the red light.
B) use red, blue, and yellow lights, and only reward the fish for swimming to the surface when the red light is used.
C) use red, orange, and purple lights, and only reward the fish for swimming to the surface when the red light is used.
D) withhold training until the testing phase.

Question 23

A loud buzzer is paired with a dim light as a signal for a dog to press a lever to gain access to food.The dog quickly learns to respond to the buzzer alone,but does not learn to respond vigorously to the light alone.According to the configural-cue approach,this is because of

A) the type of reinforcer being delivered.
B) the type of response required of the dog.
C) a generalization decrement from training to test trials.
D) the evolutionary configuration of appetitive responding.

Question 24

When the S+ and S- differ only in terms of one stimulus feature,the training procedure is called

A) intradimensional discrimination.
B) interdimensional discrimination.
C) extradimensional discrimination.
D) hypodimensional discrimination.

Question 25

In a stimulus discrimination procedure,subjects are

A) repeatedly exposed to a single stimulus as a cue for the availability of a reinforcer.
B) exposed once to a single stimulus as a cue for the availability of a reinforcer.
C) exposed to at least two stimuli, only one of which is a cue for the availability of a reinforcer.
D) exposed to at least two stimuli, all of which signal the availability of a reinforcer.

Question 26

Other students take advantage of the professor's absence to look on each others' papers.When the professor periodically returns,this behavior stops,only to start again when the professor leaves.This is an example of

A) overshadowing.
B) a multiple schedule of reinforcement.
C) stimulus generalization.
D) the peak-shift effect.

Question 27

In driving school,you are reinforced for driving into an intersection when the light is green,but not reinforced when the light is red.This is an example of

A) a stimulus discrimination procedure.
B) a stimulus generalization procedure.
C) the peak-shift phenomenon.
D) the configural-cue approach.

Question 28

According to some learning theorists,in order to train a child to sleep through the night,a parent should do all of the following except

A) allow the child to sleep only in his or her own bed.
B) check on the child, if necessary, with a minimum of disturbance.
C) firmly but kindly scold the child when he or she wakes during the night.
D) develop a nonvarying bed-time routine.

Question 29

A cat is trained to hit a suspended ball in the presence of a red light.Presentations of other lights were not followed by any reinforcers if the cat hit the ball.According to Spence,the cat learned

A) to respond only when the S+ is present.
B) to suppress responding only when the S- is present.
C) to respond only when the S+ is present and to suppress responding only when the S- is present.
D) to suppress inhibition when the S- is present.

Question 30

Which of the following conditioning procedures will result in the flattest stimulus generalization gradient?

A) no training prior to testing with various frequency tones
B) S+ = 500 Hz tone; S- = no tone
C) S+ = 1000 Hz tone; S- = 900 Hz tone
D) S+ = 600 Hz tone: S- = 500 Hz tone

Question 31

Which of the following conditioning procedures will result in the steepest stimulus generalization gradient?

A) S+ = 1000 Hz tone; S- = no tone
B) S+ = 500 Hz tone; S- = 850 Hz tone
C) S+ = 600 Hz tone; S- = 450 Hz tone
D) S+ = 950 Hz tone; S- = 900 Hz tone

Question 32

According to Spence,discrimination training results in

A) only excitatory conditioning.
B) only inhibitory conditioning.
C) either excitatory or inhibitory conditioning.
D) both excitatory and inhibitory conditioning.

Question 33

Which of the following stimuli could be used in an intradimensional discrimination procedure?

A) S+ = bright red light: S- = no light
B) S+ = bright red light: S- = bright yellow light
C) S+ = bright red light: S- = tone
D) S+ = bright red light: S- = white key light with black bar

Question 34

A pigeon is trained to peck in the presence of a 500 nm wavelength light and is not reinforced for pecking in the presence of a 510 nm wavelength light.After training,most performance will be demonstrated in response to a

A) 400 nm light.
B) 490 nm light.
C) 500 nm light.
D) 505 nm light.

Question 35

The configural-cue approach asserts that the overshadowing effect is due to

A) the type of instrumental response required.
B) the ease with which one of the stimuli can be conditioned.
C) the type of reinforcer delivered.
D) the generalization decrement from training to test trials.

Question 36

According to the configural-cue approach,

A) stimulus elements maintain their individuality in their control of behavior even when in a compound stimulus.
B) individuals respond to a compound stimulus in terms of the unique blend of the compound elements.
C) stimulus elements maintain their individuality in their control of behavior only when in a compound stimulus.
D) a less salient stimulus element can control behavior if the required response is carefully chosen.

Question 37

The instrumental behavior of dogs trained on a go/no-go discrimination task was controlled by the stimulus cue's quality.Dogs trained to lift a right or left leg learned to respond to the location of the cue.This demonstrates that

A) the type of reinforcement plays a role in determining stimulus control.
B) the stimulus salience plays a role in determining stimulus control.
C) the type of response required plays a role in determining stimulus control.
D) overshadowing plays a role in determining stimulus control.

Question 38

For one group of pigeons,a black vertical bar on a white key light served as the S+ and the blank key light the S-.For another,the bar served as the S- and the blank key light the S+.When the bar was rotated toward the horizontal,the first group decreased pecking,and the second increased pecking.This demonstrates that

A) the response required influences discrimination training.
B) excitatory and inhibitory conditioning can occur in discrimination training.
C) discrimination training results in either excitatory or inhibitory conditioning, but not both.
D) overshadowing can influence discrimination training.

Question 39

According to Spence's theory of discrimination learning,discrimination training results in

A) only the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around the S+.
B) the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around the S+, but an inhibitory generalization gradient around the S-.
C) the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around both the S+ and S-.
D) only the development of an excitatory generalization gradient around the S-.

Question 40

A hamster is trained to push a lever to earn a food pellet each time it hears a bell.When a buzzer sounds,pushing the lever does not result in food delivery.The hamster quickly learns to respond to the bell and does not respond to the buzzer.We can conclude

A) the hamster has learned to respond only when the S+ is present.
B) the hamster has learned to suppress responding only when the S- is present.
C) the hamster has learned to respond only when the S+ is present and to suppress responding only when the S- is present.
D) that more information is needed to determine what the hamster has learned.

Question 41

Modulators serve to

A) mediate overshadowing effects.
B) modulate generalization effects.
C) indicate when a binary relation is in effect.
D) indicate when discrimination training has begun.

Question 42

Which of the following pairs of stimuli will result in the greatest peak-shift phenomenon?

A) S+ = bright red light: S- = no light
B) S+ = bright red light: S- = bright yellow light
C) S+ = bright red light: S- = tone
D) S+ = bright red light: S- = bright orange light

Question 43

The fact that you are less likely to cheer in class than at a football game is an indication that

A) the peak-shift phenomenon occurs in humans as well as animals.
B) contextual cues can be involved in discrimination training.
C) blocking effects occur across contexts.
D) you are stuck with a boring professor.

Question 44

Which of the following is not true of a modulator?

A) A modulator signals a CS-US relationship.
B) When a modulator is presented alone, the facilitory properties gradually extinguish.
C) A stimulus can be a modulator without itself eliciting visible conditioned responding.
D) The effects of a modulator can transfer to new target CSs.

Question 45

The term "occasion setters" refers to

A) modulators of the response-reinforcer relationship in instrumental conditioning.
B) modulators of the stimulus-response relationship in instrumental conditioning.
C) modulators of the stimulus-reinforcer relationship in instrumental conditioning.
D) modulators of the CS-US relationship in classical conditioning.

Question 46

Dogs are trained with a red-light S+ and a yellow-light S- in context 1.Then,in context 2,the same dogs receive training with a yellow-light S+ and a red-light S-.Assuming they receive the same number of reinforcers in each context during training,what will be the role of the contexts in the subsequent test trials in each context?

A) The contexts will be associated with different S+/S- contingencies.
B) The contexts will not appear to control behavior because the reinforcers delivered in each context were the same.
C) Context 1 will cause a peak shift of the performance in context 2 because excitatory training occurred there first.
D) Context 2 will cause a peak shift of the performance in context 1 because of recency effects.

Question 47

Spence's theory suggests that the peak shift phenomenon will only occur when

A) the excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients overlap.
B) the excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients do not overlap.
C) the inhibitory generalization gradient shifts towards the S+.
D) the excitatory generalization gradient shifts away from the S-.

Question 48

Which of the following is not true of Spence's theory as applied to the peak shift phenomenon?

A) It is an absolute stimulus learning model basing behavior on the net excitatory properties of individual stimuli.
B) It assumes that organisms learn to respond to a stimulus based on the relation of that stimulus to other cues present.
C) It predicts the peak shift phenomenon will only occur when the excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients overlap.
D) The excitatory and inhibitory stimulus generalization gradients do not depend on one another.

Question 49

Which of the following phenomena demonstrates that the greatest level of instrumental performance may occur in response to a novel stimulus?

A) the blocking effect
B) overshadowing
C) peak-shift
D) equivalence training

Question 50

In an instrumental discrimination procedure,which of the following serves as a modulator?

A) the response
B) the S+
C) the reinforcer
D) the response-reinforcer relationship

Question 51

According to Spence's theory,the peak shift phenomenon occurs because

A) the excitatory generalization gradient shifts away from the S-.
B) the excitatory generalization gradient shifts towards the S-.
C) the excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients summate.
D) the inhibitory generalization gradient shifts towards the S+.

Question 52

In the peak-shift phenomenon,the peak performance shifts

A) to the training S+.
B) to the training S-.
C) from the training S+ away from the training S-.
D) from the training S+ towards the training S-.

Question 53

The peak-shift phenomenon is important because it demonstrates that

A) the greatest level of performance may occur in response to an untrained stimulus.
B) excitatory conditioning may take place in response to the training S+.
C) inhibitory conditioning may take place in response to the training S+.
D) overshadowing effects are also present in discrimination training.

Question 54

Context is an important determinant of learned behavior performance

A) only when the contingency requires the subject to attend to the context.
B) when the context is more than background cues.
C) only when the context serves as a discriminative stimulus.
D) even when it is truly background.

Question 55

Which of the following pairs of stimuli is least likely to result in a peak-shift effect?

A) S+ = red light: S- = yellow light
B) S+ = 900 Hz tone: S- = 990 Hz tone
C) S+ = 90 degree line: S- = 45 degree line
D) S+ = red square: S- = blue triangle

Question 56

Stimulus equivalence training refers to procedures in which

A) two different stimuli are trained to elicit different responses.
B) the same response to two or more different stimuli results in different reinforcers.
C) two or more different stimuli are treated in the same fashion.
D) the same response to a single stimulus is rewarded with different outcomes.

Question 57

Which of the following tones will result in the greatest peak-shift phenomenon?

A) S+ = 1000 Hz: S- = no tone
B) S+ = 1000 Hz: S- = 990 Hz
C) S+ = 1000 Hz: S- = 1030 Hz
D) S+ = 1000 Hz: S- = 900 Hz

Question 58

Which of the following is true of Spence's theory as applied to the peak-shift phenomenon?

A) It predicts the peak shift phenomenon will only occur when the excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients overlap.
B) It predicts behavior based on the excitatory properties of a stimulus complex.
C) It assumes that responses to a stimulus are based on the relation of that stimulus to other cues in the situation.
D) It predicts that the shape of a generalization gradient will change as a function of the test stimuli.

Question 59

A tone signals that a red light will be followed by food delivery.Without the tone,food does not follow the red light presentation.After some training,the tone is repeatedly presented alone.You expect that its ability to facilitate the CR will be

A) reduced.
B) unchanged.
C) enhanced.
D) unpredictable.

Question 60

The best evidence suggests that conditional relationships control behavior

A) in only instrumental conditioning situations.
B) in only classical conditioning situations.
C) in both instrumental and classical conditioning situations.
D) in neither instrumental nor classical conditioning situations; they are important only in discrimination training.

Question 61

Describe a way to determine if an animal is demonstrating stimulus discrimination.

Question 62

Describe how the steepness of a generalization gradient may be altered by experience and learning.

Question 63

What does the steepness of a stimulus generalization reveal to a researcher?

Question 64

Describe the peak-shift effect and its determinants.

Question 65

Describe a way to determine if an animal is demonstrating stimulus generalization.

Question 66

Describe the role of contextual cues in the control of a common human behavior.

Question 67

What is the configural-cue approach? How does it differ from other approaches to the study of stimulus control?

Question 68

Assume you have a new position as a therapist.What are four things you can do to ensure that the treatment outcomes for your clients will generalize to settings outside your office?

Question 69

Describe the difference between intradimensional- and interdimensional- discrimination training.

Question 70

Describe Spence's theory of discrimination learning.What evidence supports this theory? How does this theory account for the peak-shift effect?

Question 71

Modulator effects require that an organism treat the stimulus compound as independent cues.To ensure that this occurs,researchers present the stimuli one after another in what is called a

A) blocking compound.
B) serial compound.
C) discriminated compound.
D) facilitated compound.

Question 72

What is the difference between facilitation and modulation? Provide an example
of each.

Question 73

Explain how the type of reinforcement provided can contribute to stimulus control.

Question 74

Describe the relationship between stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization.

Question 75

How might a music teacher use learning factors of stimulus control to train students to recognize different tones?

Question 76

Describe the phenomenon of overshadowing and describe how it may be explained by elemental and configural approaches to stimulus control.

Question 77

Compare and contrast conditioned excitation and modulatory or occasion setting properties of stimuli.