Learning Quiz 5

Stimulus Control

• explains why behaviors do not occur randomly

• rather, behaviors occur in specific situations in which they have been reinforced

• behaviors occur when antecedent is present because that is the only time the behavior has been reinforced

• occurs when the rate, latency, duration, or amplitude of a response is altered in the presence of an antecedent stimulus

Antecedent’s control operant behavior by…

having been paired with certain consequences in the past

Antecedent

• stimulus event that precedes an operant response

• present when it occurs or before it occurs

• circumstance in which the behavior was reinforced, not reinforced, or punished

Antecedent Stimuli

• reinforcement of operant responses increases future responding and influences the stimuli that immediately precede the response

• stimuli preceding the response acquire evocative effective on the relevant behavior

Stimulus

an energy change that affects an organism throughout its receptor cells; can be described formally, temporally, or functionally

Stimulus Class

a set of stimuli that exert control over the same operant response class

Discriminative Stimulus

a stimulus positively correlated with the availability of reinforcement for some response

Stimulus Delta

a stimulus negatively correlated with the availability of reinforcement for some response

A stimulus acquires control only when…

responses emitted in the presence of that stimulus produce reinforcement more often than responses in the absence of that stimulus

Stimulus Discrimination Training

responses are reinforced in the presence of one stimulus condition but responses are not reinforced in the absence of that stimulus or presence of other stimuli

An antecedent acquires…

a controlling function through association with a stimulus change that occurs immediately following a behavior - operant conditioning

Conditioned stimuli acquire…

a controlling relation through association with other antecedent stimuli that elicit the behavior - respondent conditioning

Stimulus Discrimination

when antecedent stimuli different from the discriminative stimulus do not exert control over responding

Stimulus Discrimination Training

the process in which a behavior is reinforced when the antecedent is present and extinguished or not reinforced when the S-delta is present. As a result the behavior is most likely going to occur in the presence of the antecedent and is not in its absence

S^P

when present, weakens behavior because it is associated with punishment, in other words the behavior has been punished in its presence

What do you need for discrimination training?

one response and two antecedent stimulus conditions = S^D and S^Delta

Matching to Sample

discriminative stimulus (sample) + array of choices or responses

What are the types of MTS?

• identity visual-visual

• nonidentity visual-visual

• auditory-visual

• visual-auditory (oral naming)

• nonidentity visual-visual (reading the names)

Identity Visual-Visual MTS

Nonidentity Visual-Visual MTS

Auditory-Visual MTS

Visual-Auditory MTS - oral naming

Nonidentity Visual-Visual (reading the names)

Contextual Control - Setting Events

• complex form of stimulus control

• the general setting or context may alter the manner in which an individual response to specific stimuli

• the setting or context indicates which behaviors will be reinforced in that setting

Learning about our environment

• occurs through stimulus discrimination

• if learning does not occur naturally, specific training needs to occur

  • reinforcement is delivered for each correct response at first

  • each skill is broken down into smaller components

• ex. labeling, reading, spelling

Stimulus Generalization

• the response that has been conditioned to occur in the presence of one stimulus is emitted in the presence of new and different stimuli (under different stimulus conditions)

• can occur with or without additional training

Generalization gradient

the function (graph) that relates stimulus values to a measure of response strength

Strong stimulus control equals…

stimulus discrimination

Weak stimulus control equals…

stimulus generalization

Response Generalization

different responses are emitted in the presence of the same S^d

Stimulus Equivalence

learned connections without being taught

ex. picture of a car, “car” spoken, C-A-R printed, if only taught spoken word connection to image and spoken word connection to printed word, can then learn on own the relation between image and printed word

Self Management

• engage in one behavior in order to control behavior at another time

• deficits = not enough behavior

• excesses = too much behavior

Skinner believed…

• a person will engage in a controlling behavior to influence the future occurrence of the controlled behavior

• implicit in a functional analysis is the notion of control, when we discover an independent variable which can be controlled, we discover a means of controlling the behavior which is a function of it

How many components of self control are there?

• nine

• physical restraint

• arrange S^d

• deprivation/satiation

• manipulate emotional state

• use aversive contingencies

• drugs

• operant conditioning

• punishment

• doing something else

Types of Strategies

• consider temporal relationship of reinforcement

• goal-setting and self-monitoring

• antecedent manipulations

• arranging contingencies

• establishing rules through rule-governed behavior

The longer the delay between the behavior and the consequence…

the less likely it is to function as a reinforcer or punisher

Behavioral Contracts

• a written document in which you identify the target behavior and arrange consequences contingent on a specified level of the target behavior in a specific time period

• meant to be self-management though someone else applies consequences

Habits

• nervous habits

• motor tics

• stuttering

• frequency/intensity cause problems

• behavior is automatically reinforced

Antecedent Manipulations

• present SD’s for desired behavior

• eliminate SD’s for undesirable behavior

• arrange EO’s for desirable behavior

• arrange AO’s for undesired behavior

• decrease response effort for desirable behavior

• increase response effort for undesired behavior

Consequence Manipulations

• provide reinforcers for the desired behavior

• eliminate reinforcers for undesired behavior

• eliminate punishers for the desired bhevaior

• provide punishers for the undesired behavior

• use skills training to teach desirable behaviors

Antecedent (stimulus) Control

controlled by MOs

Purpose of Antecedent Control Procedures

• promote desirable behaviors

• make it less likely that they will occur

HOW

• manipulating antecedent stimuli

• changing some aspect of the physical or social environment

What are the two categories of antecedent stimuli?

• contingency dependent - if this behavior then this contingency

• contingency independent - changing the MOs

Contingency Dependent

• antecedent event that is dependent on the consequences of behavior

• referred to as antecedent control

• made up of antecedents that have stimulus control (SDs)

Contingency Independent

• antecedent event that is independent on the consequences of behavior for developing evocative and abative effects

• called antecedent intervention

• antecedent itself affects behavior-consequence relations

• MOs

SD as an Antecedent

evokes behavior due to past correlation with increased availability of reinforcement

• cues

SDP as an Antecedent

prevent behavior because of past pairing with punishing stimuli

MO as an Antecedent

increase current frequency of behavior when an effective reinforcer is not available

Establishing Operation

• increase reinforcer value, increase behavior

• evocative effect

Abolishing Operation

• decrease reinforcer value, decrease behavior

• abative effect

Behavioral Momentum

• opposite of premack

• high probability followed by low probability

  • Presentation of a series of easy-to-follow requests for which the individual has a history of compliance (i.e. high-p requests)

  • When individual complies with several high-p requests, provide individual with target request (i.e. low-p)

• Provides non-aversive procedure for improving

  compliance by diminishing escape-maintained

  problem behaviors

• may decrease excessive slowness in responding to requests and increase time used for completing tasks

Functional Communication Training

• establishes an appropriate communication behavior to compete with problem behaviors evoked by an EO

• develops alternative behaviors that are sensitive to the EOs (in contrast to NCR and high probability request sequence)

FCT interventions typically…

involve several behavior change strategies in addition to teaching the appropriate alternative communication response; can avoid

• response prompting

• time-out

• physical restraint

• response blocking

• redirection

• extinction of problem behavior

Competing Behaviors

• less frequent desirable and more frequent undesirable or competing behaviors are concurrent operants on concurrent schedules of reinforcement

• important to minimize competing behaviors that interfere with desirable behaviors

• use procedures that increase the likelihood that desirable behaviors will occur and less likely that undesirable behaviors will occur

Setting Events

• antecedent factors that are broader/more complex than SDs

• temporally disrant from the behavior

• ex. organisms health and fitness

• “stimulus that impacts other stimulus-response relations”

Response Effort

• make the desirable behavior require less effort than the undesirable behavior

• make the competing behavior more effortful

• important when replacing maladaptive behavior with a more appropriate behavior

Other procedures to decrease undesirable problem behaviors and increase desirable behaviors

• interspersal

• embed demands in conversation

• avoid “free times”

• provide opportunities for choice-making

• provide an enriched environment

• schedule frequent noncontingent breaks

• reduce task demands then gradually reintroduce demands

• modify curriculum materials

Selecting effective antecedent control procedures

• behaviorally define the behavior

• identify:

  • stimulus conditions that have or would have control over the behavior

  • resource requirements

  • factors that might interfere with the procedure

• conduct a functional assessment to determine maintaining antecedents and consequences

• combine antecedent and consequence-based procedures

Concept Formation

stimulus generalization within a class of stimuli and discrimination between classes of stimuli, a complex example of stimulus control

Discrimination Training

a method of teaching a concept, learn examples of what is concept and what isn’t (SD vs S-Delta)

Concepts may be learned via…

vicarious discrimination and reinforcement or verbal definition

Prompts

• supplemental antecedent stimuli that are given before or during the performance of the target behavior

• facilitate the occurrence of a response so that reinforcement is delivered

• promotes effective and efficient learning

  • used with errorless learning

• ex. glaring at dog after saying lie down when they haven’t lied down yet

Response Prompts

behavior of another person that evokes a desired response in the presence of the SD

• verbal, modeling, gestures, physical

• more intrusive than the other

Stimulus Prompts

stimuli used in conjunction with the task stimuli or instructional materials

• positional cues

• redundancy cues

Verbal Response Prompts

the verbal behavior of another person that promotes the desired response in the presence of the SD

Gestural Response Prompts

any physical movement or gesture by another person that promotes the desired response in the presence of the SD

• pointing

• touching

• glancing

Modeling Response Prompts

demonstrating the desired response in the presence of the SD

• person observes and imitates the model

• most effective when the model is salient/familiar

• person MUST be able to imitate

Physical Response Prompts

when another person provides physical assistance to promote desired response

• light touch

• hand-over-hand

• full physical guidance

Within-Stimulus Prompts

changing the SD or making the SD more salient to make a correct response more likely

• underhanded slow pitch as a prompt to hit a ball

Extrastimulus Prompts

adding another stimulus or cue to the SD

• pictures on an assembly line to help with the assembly

Transfer of Stimulus Control

occurs when the behavior occurs in response to the SD and not the S-Delta - so at the right time without any assistance - under natural conditions

Prompt Fading

gradually removing the response prompt across learning trials until it is no longer provided to evoke a correct response

Prompt Delay

gradually delaying the prompt across learning trials until it is no longer provided

Stimulus Fading

gradually changing the antecedent stimulus to the target stimulus

Fading Response Prompts

• most to least prompts

• graduated guidance

  • shadowing

    • following student movements nearly but not touching

  • spatial fading

    • involves gradually changing the location of the physical prompt

• time delay

  • delaying the presenattion of the response prompt in an effort to transfer stimulus control to the natural stimulus

Withing-Stimulus Prompt Fading/Shaping

the alteration in the characteristics of the discriminative stimulus or the S-Delta to make them more noticeable or distinguishable, thereby easier to discriminate

Factors determining the effectiveness of stimulus discrimination training

• choose distinct signals

• minimized opportunity for error

• maximize the number of trials

• use rules: describe the contingencies

Factors to consider during training

• minimize errors

• use errorless learning

• select distinctive cues

• consistent implementation of different reinforcement in the presence of the SD and not the S-Delta

• when relevant use rules that describe the contingencies

  • rule-governed behavior

  • contingency shaped behavior

• provide many teaching trials

• use an appropriate teaching pace

• consider motivating operations

• plan for continued stimulus control as well as transferring stimulus control

• contextual control

• attention

• salience

• inadvertent discrimination training of problem behavior