Stimulus Discrimination - 40 Hour RBT® Online Training

Stimulus Discrimination

Stimulus Discrimination refers to the ability to differentiate between different stimuli and respond appropriately to each. It occurs when a behavior is reinforced in the presence of one stimulus (discriminative stimulus, or SD) but not in the presence of other stimuli (S-deltas), leading the learner to respond only when the correct stimulus is present.

Example

A child learns to say “dog” when shown a picture of a dog (SD), but does not say “dog” when shown a picture of a cat (S-delta). The child has developed stimulus discrimination because they can distinguish between the two different stimuli and respond only to the appropriate one (the picture of the dog).

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