LEARNING 5: STIMULUS CONTROL

Stimulus Control

A phenomenon in instrumental learning where an organism behaves one way in the presence of a certain stimulus and another way in its absence.

Psychologists Thorndike and Skinner, despite their differing propositions about instrumental conditioning, reached what agreement about the nature of reinforcement?

Reinforcers occur in the presence of particular stimuli. These stimuli could be features (loud/soft tones), events (a light is on/off), or the environment (Skinner box, etc.). Thus, it was surmised that behaviors are shaped by stimulus control (consuming alcohol at a significant other’s grandma’s house vs. at a bar).

Stimulus Discrimination

Differential responding to two or more stimuli. There is no proper explanation as to why differences in this phenomenon occur among individual organisms.

Reynolds performed a study on stimulus control involving 2 pigeons, #107 and #105, as subjects. During the training phase, they were trained on a variable interval schedule of 2 and they were reinforced by pecking a compound stimulus, a white triangle combined with a red circle. During testing, the triangle and the circle were presented individually in separate trials. What were the results?

#107 responded to the red circle while #105 responded to the white triangle. It demonstrates stimulus discrimination. This would not hold true if multiple pigeons were tested and this experiment merely highlights the extremes of the discrimination.

Guttman and Kalish performed a study on stimulus discrimination where pigeons were reinforced on a variable interval schedule during the training phase and were reinforced by pecking a yellow/orange light (wavelength of 580 nm). During the testing phase, they were then presented with various colors at random (wavelengths ranging from 520-630 nm). What did they find?

They found that regular pigeons showed a steep and robust stimulus-response gradient reflecting stimulus discrimination, while color-blind pigeons were unable to discriminate between wavelengths and showed a flat gradient. It demonstrates the mechanisms of the stimulus-response gradient and how stimulus control can rely on the sensory capacity of

Stimulus-Response Gradient

A pattern of responding where responding depends upon how similar stimuli are to the training stimulus. A strong gradient is usually steep and shows increased responding around the range of the target characteristic where the training stimulus lies.

Stimulus Generalization

Responding in a similar fashion to two or more stimuli.

Sensory Capacity

An important factor influencing stimulus control. The ability to sense a stimulus. It depends on whether the stimulus is in the sensory range of an organism (bats hear a vastly different spectrum of sounds, Brussels sprouts taste different to various people, etc.) and/or whether the organism has to come in contact with the stimulus (mobiles are often designed to be used by adults and not infants, etc.).

Presence of Other Cues

An important factor influencing stimulus control. The presence of other extraneous cues with a certain stimulus. This can be seen in overshadowing.

Overshadowing

When the strength of one target interferes with the conditioning of a target stimulus (when words overshadow small pictures in a book, when different smells overshadow visual cues in animal studies with rats, etc.).

Reinforcement Type

An important factor influencing stimulus control. The variation of reinforcement involved (positive, negative).

Foree and LoLordo performed a study on stimulus control involving pigeons as subjects. During the training phase, pigeons were split into groups 1 and 2, where group 1 would have to step on a treadle in the presence of a light and a tone to receive food (positive reinforcement) and group 2 would have to do the same in order to avoid a shock (negative reinforcement). During the testing phase, the groups were presented with the light and the tone, the light alone, and the tone alone. What did they find?

They found that pigeons in group 1 tended to respond to the light but not the tone while pigeons in group 2 tended to respond to the tone but not the light. It demonstrates how reinforcement type influences behavior along with the role of belongingness in stimulus control.

Response Type

An important factor influencing stimulus control. The kind of response required from an organism.

Dobrzecka et al. performed a study on stimulus control involving dogs as subjects. During the training phase, dogs were split into groups 1 and 2. Group 1 was tasked with left/right leg discrimination, as they had to lift their left front leg at the sound of a buzzer in the back and lift their right front leg at the sound of a metronome in the front. Group 2 was tasked with a go/no go task, as they had to lift their right front leg at the sound of a buzzer in the back (go) and explicitly not lift their right leg at the sound of a metronome in the front (no go). During the testing phase, the placement of the buzzer and the metronome was switched. What did they find?

They found that dogs in group 1 responded on the basis of stimulus location while dogs in group 2 responded on the basis of stimulus quality. It demonstrates response by selective association, with spatial responses being linked to spatial features and quality responses being linked to quality features, along with how response type influences behavior.

What conditions could stimulus generalization reflect?

Stimulus similarity (as proposed by Pavlov), especially between stimuli that could be too similar to be differentiated, or a lack of experience or training (as proposed by Lashley and Wade), as training, specifically stimulus discrimination training, is necessary before stimuli can be differentiated.

Stimulus Discrimination Training

A procedure used to bring behavior under control of a stimulus and allow for proper stimulus discrimination. Training determines the extent of stimulus control.

In a typical stimulus discrimination procedure, subjects are trained with 2 stimuli, a red light and a green light. In the procedure, reinforcement only occurs with the red light (S+), meaning the green light indicates a lack of reinforcement (S-). What are the typical results?

Responses are triggered by the red light (S+) while they are not for the green light (S-). Once trained, they become discriminative stimuli.

Jenkins and Harrison performed a study featuring stimulus discrimination training involving pigeons as subjects. Pigeons are split into 3 groups. Group 1 is reinforced in the presence of a 1000 cps tone (S+) and is not reinforced with silence. Group 2 is reinforced in the presence of a 1000 cps tone (S+) and is also not reinforced in the presence of a 950 cps tone (S-). Group 3, the active control group, is exposed to a 1000 cps tone all of the time. What did they find?

They found that group 1 showed general pecking around the range of the training tone, group 2 showed tightly packed pecking around the range of the training tone, and group 3 showed indiscriminate pecking. It demonstrates how stimulus discrimination training determines the extent of stimulus control and how specificity of stimulus control increases with more focused training.

Schaal et al. performed a study featuring stimulus discrimination training involving pigeons as subjects. Hungry pigeons go through two phases of training. In the first phase, they are injected with cocaine, they peck for food on a variable interval schedule (S+), and they perform a generalization test across doses. Before-discrimination training results show indiscriminate responding. In the second phase, pecking is reinforced in sessions where cocaine (S+) is administered while pecking is not reinforced during sessions where saline (S-) is administered, and they perform another generalization test across doses. What did they find?

Pigeons showed better recognition of cocaine intoxication, with narrowed pecking around the range of the S+. It demonstrates how discriminative procedures can reveal if differences in internal states are detectable (drug influence, etc.)

Kenneth Spence

A 20th-century psychologist who proposed the concepts of the excitatory stimulus gradient and the inhibitory stimulus gradient, which are created during stimulus discrimination, and how these processes co-occur.

Excitatory Stimulus Gradient

A concept proposed b Kenneth Spence. A stimulus gradient showing that once an S+ is conditioned, stimuli differing from it evoke a reduced response. It co-occurs with the inhibitory stimulus gradient.

Inhibitory Stimulus Gradient

A concept proposed b Kenneth Spence. A stimulus gradient showing that once an S- is conditioned, stimuli differing from it evoke a greater response. It co-occurs with the excitatory stimulus gradient.

Honij et al. performed a study featuring stimulus discrimination training involving pigeons as subjects. Hungry pigeons are put in two groups, with one being exposed to a vertical bar in a circle as the S+ compared to a circle alone and the other being exposed to the vertical bar in a circle as the S- compared to a circle alone. They were then tested with various bar orientations inside circles. What did they find?

They found that responses in the excitatory stimulus gradient for group 1 generally cluster around the range of the vertical bar in the circle while responses in the inhibitory response gradient for group 2 generally dip around the range of the vertical bar. It demonstrates Kenneth Spence’s concepts of the excitatory and the inhibitory stimulus gradient and how discrimination training leads to S+ and S- learning.

Intradimensional Discrimination

A training procedure designed to highlight discrete differences within very similar stimuli, especially in instances where an S+ and S- differ only on a subtle feature.

Peak Shift

When an S+ and S- are close enough together in certain features, their individual gradients overlap, which in turn shifts the peak performance, or the sum of the gradients, away from the original S+ in a separate direction from the S-.

A study was performed on the peak shift phenomenon involving pigeons as subjects. In the S+ training phase, pigeons were reinforced with the presence of a 550 nm light. In the S- training phase, pigeons were split into 3 groups, with group 1 being exposed to a 590 nm light as the S-, group 2 being exposed to a 555 nm light as the S-, and group 3 being exposed to no S- at all. They were tested through the presentation of lights at various wavelengths.

It was found that a peak shift to 540-550 nm was observed in group 1, a peak shift of 520-540 was observed in group 2, and a peak at 550, signifying less discrimination, was observed in group 3. It demonstrates how as the S- nears the range of the S+ in intradimensional discrimination, the stimulus gradient moves from the original S+ in a direction away from the S-, showing shifts in peak performance.

Stimulus Equivalence Training

A procedure used to encourage generalized responding to stimuli that may differ on one or more features, differently from how differences between stimuli are emphasized in stimulus discrimination training.

Context Cues

An important learning factor influencing stimulus control. A particular context in which certain stimuli occur in which predicts the outcomes that occur when responding to that stimulus. Context cues can even control behavior even when they do not signal reinforcement. This can apply when cues signal contingency instead, as seen with modulators.

Akins performed a study on contextual cues in stimulus control involving male quails as subjects. Quails were placed in two different compartments, with one being orange and sandy and the other being green and wiry. A preference test was performed, with the non-preferred option being made a CS+ context. In conditioning trials, quails were placed in their respective CS+ context and a receptive female was then placed in the compartment. After multiple pairings with the female, what did they find?

Significant changes occurred in the context preference of the male quails, with them starting to prefer their originally non-preferred options. It demonstrates how context cues influence the learning that occurs with stimulus control.

Modulators

A stimulus (context cue, etc.) that determines a response-reinforcer contingency. They can only facilitate responding with the added presence of the contingency and cannot act as a CS+ or a secondary reinforcer.

Thomas et al. performed a study on contextual cues in stimulus control involving pigeons as subjects. Hungry pigeons are trained in an initial context, a Skinner box that is bright and quiet where they are exposed to a horizontal line as an S+ and a vertical line as an S-. They are also trained in the second context, a Skinner box that is dim and loud where they are exposed to a vertical line as an S+ and a horizontal line as an S- instead. Counterbalancing was ensured between contexts. What did they find?

Context controlled behavior even without explicit pairing with reinforcement, as context here activated memory of the contingency and not the reinforcement. It demonstrates the workings of modulators.

Elemental Stimuli

A stimulus consisting of a simple arrangement of characteristics.

Complex Stimuli

A stimulus consisting of a complex and blended mix of characteristics (foods, etc.).

Stimulus Element Approach

A stimulus control approach where stimulus elements are treated as separate features of an environment.

Configural Cue Approach

A stimulus control approach where stimulus elements are treated as integral to a whole and cannot be divided into parts. Configural cue approaches support assumptions of the Gestalt theory.

Extinction

The fading and loss of a conditioned behavior. It is an active process in which a conditioned stimulus or a response is paired with an absence of any outcome. It provides flexibility and adaptation in that it is useful in situations where changes in the environment occur that also require changes in behavior, specifically the reduction of certain responses. The learning of stimulus-response associations is the most important contributor.

How does extinction differ with the type of conditioning involved?

In classical conditioning, extinction occurs when an excitatory conditioned stimulus occurs without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus. In instrumental conditioning, extinction occurs when an instrumental response is no longer followed by its reinforcer.

In normal instances, what is the typical temporal structure in which extinction occurs?

Early responses during extinction procedures consist of multiple attempts, while late responses show an increase in response variability and final responses show a decrease in responding (eg. typing in what you think is your password repeatedly while logging into a computer, followed by trying different passwords you know and, finally, slowly giving up).

Neuringer et al. performed a study on extinction involving rats as subjects. Two groups of rats were placed in Skinner boxes with two levers and a spinner. Three responses are required for reinforcement: pressing the left lever, pressing the right lever, and then using the spinner. In the training phase, group 1 was required to show some degree of variability in demonstrating their sequence of responses, while group 2 was yoked to the responses of group 1, although any combo of the three is accepted. During training, they found that the yoked rats responded slightly faster as they showed stereotypy and that reinforcing variability generally increased variable responses. In the testing phase, reinforcement was taken away. What did they find?

During testing, they found that the variability of the responses of both groups increased before they eventually stopped responding altogether. It demonstrates the typical structure of extinction in most extinction procedures.

Frustration

An emotional reaction induced by the withdrawal of an expected reinforcer. It is an emotion that the extinction process normally elicits and the amount displayed is likely to influence the way extinction manifests.

Extinction does not reverse acquisition, as it is a process that compounds on top of existing relationships. This statement has been supported by what 4 phenomena?

Spontaneous recovery, renewal, reinstatement, and sensitivity to devaluation.

Spontaneous Recovery

A phenomenon where an extinct response returns after a certain delay. It is only the passage of time that is required for spontaneous recovery to occur.

Rescorla performed a study on extinction involving classical conditioning on animals. During conditioning, “tracking” is acquired, where a noise, the conditioned stimulus, is followed by the delivery of sucrose, the unconditioned stimulus, which in turn results in the animals poking their nose where the pellet may drop, the conditioned response. Afterwards, 32 extinction trials were performed, resulting in a clear decrease in responding. In order to examine spontaneous recovery, 4 test trials were performed, where rest from the conditioned stimulus is either short (very brief and almost immediate) or long (8 days). What were the findings?

It was found that low levels of responding persisted in the short rest condition while the long rest condition showed spontaneous recovery. It demonstrates the process of spontaneous recovery and how it requires the passage of time in order to occur.

In a clinical setting, how could spontaneous recovery affect the process of extinction?

An absence of training can lead to a resurfacing of fears or habits. Intermittent exposure, or exposure that happens between inconsistent or irregular intervals, is used to support extinction and avoid any spontaneous recovery.

Renewal

A phenomenon involving the recovery of behaviors when contextual cues present during extinction are changed.

Bouton and King performed a study on extinction involving rats. Rats went through two training phases. The first phase involved conditioning of suppression in context A for all groups, a slight scent of roses, where lever presses for food are interspersed with tones, the conditioned stimulus, paired with foot shocks, the unconditioned stimulus. The second phase involved extinction to the tone across three groups, with group 1 experiencing extinction in context A, group 2 experiencing extinction in context B, a slight scent of cheese, and group 3 experiencing no extinction. The testing phase involved 4 trials where the conditioned stimulus returned with context A, and conditioned suppression was measured.

They found that group 1 maintained extinction, group 2 showed a renewal of suppression, and group 3 demonstrated normal suppression. It demonstrates how in renewal, memory of the extinction is specific to cues present during extinction.

In a clinical setting, how can renewal affect the extinction process?

Extinction procedures in a therapy environment involving specific contextual cues can lead to a resurfacing of fears or habits in many other environments. Practicing extinction trials through varying contexts and experiences can help support extinction and avoid any renewal. However, returning a subject back to the extinction context can help restore the extinction.

Reinstatement

A phenomenon involving recovery of responding to an extinguished stimulus produced by exposure to the original unconditioned stimulus or reinforcer.

LaBar and Phelps performed a study on extinction involving Yale undergraduates as subjects. Subjects underwent three training trials. In phase 1, across 4 trials, a blue square on a screen, the conditioned stimulus, was followed by a loud pulsating noise burst, the unconditioned stimulus, with skin conductance being measured as the conditioned response. Skin conductance to the conditioned stimulus increased over training. In phase 2, an extinction procedure was set in place across 8 trials, where the noise burst was absent. Skin conductance decreased with the conditioned stimulus alone. In phase 3, reinstatement was established across 4 trials, with the unconditioned stimulus occuring alone in an extinction context or alone in a different context. During testing, a test of skin conductance to the conditioned stimulus is performed in the original acquisition context.

It was found that noise bursts in the acquisition and extinction contexts reinstate skin conductance during testing. However, reinstatement does not occur if the noise burst is given in a different context. It demonstrates the process of reinstatement and how it can be strengthened by context.

How come in renewal, a specific stimulus is usually the extinction context and its absence causes the phenomenon?

Non-reinforcement produces an inhibitory stimulus-response association. Therefore, non-reinforcement in the presence of specific stimuli/environments/contexts inhibits responding. According to the summation and retardation of acquisition tests, there is strong evidence that extinction does make the conditioned stimulus an inhibitor.

How does the inhibitory stimulus-response relationship in extinction depend upon reinforcement history?

The expectation that comes for every response that is not reinforced contributes to frustration, which serves as the gateway for the production of the inhibitory stimulus-response relationship. The more frustration we experience, the more likely we are to experience more rapid extinction.

Extensive reinforcement training does not produce resistance to extinction, a paradoxical effect of extinction. What would happen instead?

If decreased frequency in responding is due to the frustration of the unexpected lack of reinforcement, more rapid extinction should occur when expectancy is higher in overtraining.

Magnitude Reinforcement Extinction Effect

A paradoxical effect of extinction where more rapid extinction would occur when reinforcer expectancy is higher. Responding decreases more rapidly in extinction following training with a larger reinforcer, according to this effect.

Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect

A paradoxical effect of extinction where extinction would be slower if reinforcement that was previously in effect was partial rather than continuous (eg. it is more likely that you would stop using an ATM machine than a game of roulette if there is no payout).

Discrimination Hypothesis

States that the introduction of extinction is easier to detect after continuous reinforcement than with partial reinforcement. It serves to explain the partial reinforcement extinction effect.

Frustration Hypothesis

States that the partial reinforcement extinction effect results from learning to respond when it is anticipated that non-reinforcement or frustration will be brought about during partial reinforcement. It is dependent upon intermittent reinforcement in acquisition during training, where late in the process, non-reinforcement trials lead to a subconscious expectation of an eventual reinforcer, even in the face of extinction. This can still happen with fixed reinforcement, although the effect is more pronounced in variable reinforcement.

Sequential Hypothesis

States that in partial reinforcement schedules, subjects remember trials followed by non-rewarded trials and the memory of the non-rewarded trials serve as cues for the next reward. This explicit memory creates an idea of eventual expectation.

Behavioral Momentum Hypothesis

States that persistence in extinction could represent a resistance to change. Being conceptually derived from mechanisms in standard physics, it suggests that there is a chance that behaviors with enough momentum will be difficult to stop.

Aversive Control

The role of aversive stimuli in controlling responding in an organism.

Vladimir Bechterev

A 20th century psychologist who performed early studies involving aversive control.

In Vladimir Bechterev’s studies, he required subjects to place their fingers on a metal plate, where trials began without instruction with a light, the warning stimulus, following a finger shock. Typically, the subjects learned to lift their finger upon the presence of the light. From these studies, what suggestion arose?

Aversive control involves instrumental processes, as unconditional stimulus exposure depends upon the behavior or response of the subject.

Two-Process Theory of Avoidance

An explanation of the reinforcing nature of avoidance, stating that it involves two sequential processes established in avoidance procedures: classical and instrumental conditioning. In the classical process, the conditioned stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus during escape trials elicits a fear of the conditioned stimulus. In the instrumental process, which depends on the previous process, the response is oriented around avoiding the conditioned stimulus by terminating it in quick time during avoidance trials. Thus, responding is reinforced by fear.

Amygdala

A part of the limbic system in the brain that plays a central role in fear control. It has been suggested through the functions of the amygdala that fear serves a protective function.

What effects have been found upon the stimulation and lesioning of the amygdala?

Stimulating the amygdala typically increases fear responding, shown through freezing, enhanced startle responses, and an increased heart rate, and that lesioning the amygdala decreases fear responding, shown through losses of conditioned fear, an inability to control fear, and an increased capacity to approach predators and other aversive stimuli.

Acquired Drive Experiment

A type of avoidance experiment involving the use of classical and instrumental processes as distinct processes in order to see how they function separately from each other. It studies the attained drive for an organism to respond upon a reinforcement of avoidance. In a typical acquired drive experiment, early phases involve pure classical conditioning with no escape or avoidance available, as the conditioned stimulus leads to an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Later phases involve response opportunities, as the conditioned stimulus leads to no unconditioned stimulus, which is predicted to lead to a drive towards avoidance.

Brown and Jacobs performed an acquired drive experiment involving a Shuttle box. During training, the Shuttle door was blocked. The experimental group experienced 22 conditioned (tone)/unconditioned (shock) stimulus pairings, and the control group experienced the conditional stimulus with no shock. During testing, the Shuttle door opened and the conditioned stimulus was presented without the unconditioned stimulus for 40 trials. What did they find?

They found that previous training reduced latency of responding with the conditioned stimulus alone. It demonstrates that ending a fear-conditioned stimulus is enough to reinforce avoidance and lead to an acquisition of a drive to respond.

How can procedures cause the strength of avoidance to fluctuate?

In a procedure where if avoidance occurs a shock is omitted, this may produce an extinction of fear to the conditioned stimulus over trials. However if the shock occurs periodically, it reinstates avoidance. A shock threshold is then formed serving as a boundary between avoidance and escape.

Persistence in Avoidance

When avoidance can persist without the re-introduction of an aversive effect. In avoidance procedures, avoidance can continue after an aversive unconditioned stimulus discontinues, as long as the response turns off an excitatory conditioned stimulus. In Shuttle box avoidance procedures, dogs after 2-3 shocks can quickly make 650 avoidance responses even after the removal of the unconditioned stimulus. It can indicate an acquired drive of avoidance.

Conservation of Fear:

The concept that serves to explain persistence in avoidance. After avoidance is learned, later parts of a conditioned stimulus, specifically those that occur when the unconditioned stimulus is about to occur, are protected from extinction and retain some fear-provoking strength even after the unconditioned stimulus is removed.

Safety Signal Hypothesis

A theory of avoidance which states that response feedback stimuli in the environment signal the absence of aversive stimulation. These signals can become positive reinforcers.

Shock Frequency Hypothesis

A theory of avoidance which states that the avoidance of aversive stimuli is the critical determinant of responding and that in a choice scenario, subjects distribute behaviors to maximally decrease aversive stimulation (a rat, if presented with 2 concurrent schedules of reinforcement that each serve to decrease the amount of shocks, will pick the distribution of responses that decrease the amount of aversive stimuli experienced).

Species-Specific Defense Reactions

Strong unconditioned responses that aversive stimuli can elicit. The specific environment in which an organism typically finds itself in mostly determines the response. Organisms can cycle through stimulus-specific defense reactions and can be punished by choosing incorrectly, where they can shape their responses more accordingly (when encountering a threat, humans could hide, lie, and then fight).

Predator Imminence Theory

States that the likelihood of predator appearance, detection and contact determine avoidance behavior. According to this hypothesis, unconditioned stimuli, like stimulus-specific defense reactions, are determinants of responding, but a role for punishment is not postulated.

Flooding

An effective procedure for avoidance, especially maladaptive avoidance. It involves the forced presentation of a conditioned stimulus without an unconditioned stimulus, except the subjects are withheld from making avoidance responses. The duration of conditioned stimulus is the most important variable, as the longer the conditioned stimulus lasts, the fewer trials it can take in order to reach extinction. Flooding is the basis for exposure therapy.

Punishment Procedure:

Experimental procedures that test the effects of punishment. In a typical punishment procedure, an aversive stimulus is presented after a specified response. While avoidance involves limited awareness and increases responding, punishment is purposefully attention-provoking and decreases responding. However, it is hard to study in a lab setting because it can only be studied with responses that are likely to occur, mostly reinforced behaviors. For this reason, punishment is not well studied.

Aversive Stimuli Characteristics

An important factor that determines the effectiveness of a punishment, as if the intensity and duration of the stimulus increases, the suppression of behavior will increase as well. The order of stimulus exposure is also important, as experiencing a high intensity aversive stimulus before a low intensity aversive stimulus will most effectively suppress behavior.

In discriminated avoidance studies, trials begin with an explicit conditioned stimulus, the warning stimulus following an aversive unconditioned stimulus. From then on, the subject has 2 options. They can either respond correctly before the unconditioned stimulus, leading to the deactivation of the conditioned stimulus and the omission of the unconditioned stimulus. This is an example of avoidance. Or they can fail to respond to the conditioned stimulus before the unconditioned stimulus, where the conditioned stimulus remains on and the unconditioned stimulus remains until a response is made. This is an example of escape. What are the typical results?

Escape dominates early training and avoidance dominates late training. It demonstrates the instrumental processes supporting aversive control.

Discriminated Avoidance

Avoidance that is learned with an explicit excitatory conditioned stimulus.

Free-Operant Avoidance

Avoidance that is learned without an explicit excitatory conditioned stimulus.

In a free-operant avoidance procedure, there are two time intervals present, with a very brief shock-shock interval in the absence of a response and a longer response-shock interval offering a time of safety after a sufficient response. Responses can be made at any time. Over repeated exposure, what could happen?

Time could become an implicit excitatory conditioned stimulus.

Contingency

The causal relationship between a behavior and an aversive stimulus in punishment. This relationship is a significant determinant of punishment effectiveness, as instrumental responses are more easily modified by punishment

Continuity

The temporal relationship between a behavior and an aversive stimulus in punishment. This relationship is a significant determinant of punishment effectiveness, as delays in punishment can render it ineffective.

Availability of Alternatives

An important factor that determines the effectiveness of a punishment. When a punished response is the only way to obtain a positive reinforcer, it is less likely to be suppressed (eg. poppy-farming, despite being grounds for criminal punishment, is a lucrative business). However, offering alternate responses with punishment hastens suppression of the target behavior (eg. a round of punishment is in place for poppy-farming, but saffron is offered to be planted instead as a cash crop).

Discriminative Punishment

Punishment where responding is punished in the presence of a discriminative stimulus, but not when that stimulus is absent (eg. house parties once parents are gone, accelerating if speed traps are absent, etc.). Punishment of this type comes under stimulus control.

How could attention threaten the effectiveness of punishment?

Attention can serve as strong positive reinforcement. If an individual tends to seek attention, punishment may serve as that attention. Thus, they may increase behaviors that result in punishment. There is, however, no right solution for this.

Conditioned Emotional Response Theory:

A theory of punishment which states that punishment suppresses behavior by conditioning pre-response cues with fear reactions incompatible with the target response (eg. cues in a yard with an electric fence can elicit fear and freezing in a dog, responses that are incompatible with escape).

Avoidance Theory of Punishment

A theory of punishment which states that organisms can learn to prevent punishment by responding with avoidance behaviors that are incompatible with the punished response (eg. underage drinking can be punished and avoided through a “lockdown” night). Under this theory, punishment can actually strengthen avoidance.

How could D-cycloserine affect the learning that occurs during extinction?

The learning occurring in extinction is dependent upon excitatory glutamate, which is mediated by the glutamate NMDA receptor. D-cycloserine improves NMDA functions, enhances glutamate, and therefore improves extinction.