Chapter 12 - Antecedent Stimulus Control

Antecedent stimulus

An observable stimulus that is present before the behavior occurs

Discriminated operant behavior

Operant behavior that is systematically influenced by antecedent stimuli

Discriminative Stimulus (SD)

An antecedent stimulus that can evoke a specific operant response because that individual has learned that when it is present, the response will be reinforced

S^ (S delta)

An antecedent stimulus that decreases a specific operant response because the individual has learned that when it is present, that response will not be reinforced (extinction) 

SDP

An antecedent stimulus that decreases a specific operant response because the individual has learned that when it is present, that response will be punished 

Three term contingency

Functional relation between antecedent, behavior, and consequence

Discrimination training

A procedure in which an operant response is reinforced in the presence of an SD and extinguished in the presence of an S^

Generalization

When a novel stimulus resembling the SD evokes the response, despite that response never having ben reinforced in the presence of that novel stimulus

Generalization gradient

A graph depicting increases in responding as the novel antecedent stimulus more closely resembles the SD

Tactics for promoting the generalization and maintenance of adaptive behavior

Teach behaviors that will contact natural contingencies of reinforcement, train diversely, arrange antecedent stimuli that will cue generalization

Stimulus-response chain

Fixed sequence of operant responses, each evoked by a response-produced SD

Task analysis

Precise specification of the sequence of antecedents, responses, and consequences that comprise a stimulus-response chain

Backward chaining

The final link in the stimulus-response chain is taught first and, once that link is mastered, additional links are added in reverse order 

Forward chaining

Teaching the links in the stimulus-response chain in the order they will need to be emitted

Prompt

An antecedent stimulus that facilitates or guides the desired response when it is not happening under appropriate discriminative stimulus control

Fading

The gradual removal of a prompt as the response is increasingly emitted under discriminative stimulus control