Understanding Stimulus Discrimination in Psychology

Understanding Stimulus Discrimination in Psychology Student Resources Print Understanding Stimulus Discrimination in Psychology By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on October 25, 2019 Frank Gaglione / DigitalVision / Getty Images More in Student Resources APA Style and Writing Study Guides and Tips Careers Discrimination is a term used in both classical and operant conditioning. It involves the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli. In both cases, it means responding only to certain stimuli, and not responding to those that are similar. Discrimination in Classical Conditioning In classical conditioning, discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if a bell tone were the conditioned stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell the difference between the bell sound and other similar sounds.?? The classical conditioning works like this: A previously neutral stimulus, such as a sound, is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS). The unconditioned stimulus represents something that naturally and automatically triggers a response. For example, the smell of food is an unconditioned stimulus, while salivating to the smell is an unconditioned response. After an association has been formed between the previously neutral stimulus, now known as the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the unconditioned response, the CS can evoke the same response, now known as the conditioned response, even when the UCS is not present. In Ivan Pavlovs classic experiments, the sound of a tone (a neutral stimulus that became a conditioned stimulus) was repeatedly paired with the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus), which naturally and automatically led to a salivary response (unconditioned response).?? Eventually, the dogs would salivate in response to the sound of the tone alone (a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus). Now, imagine that Pavlov introduced a different sound to the experiment. Instead of presenting the sound of the tone, lets imagine that he sounded a trumpet. What would happen? If the dogs did not drool in response to the trumpet noise, it means that they are able to discriminate between the sound of the tone and the similar stimulus. Not just any noise will produce the conditioned response. Because of stimulus discrimination, only a very particular sound will lead to the conditioned response. In one well-known experiment on classical conditioning, researchers paired the taste of meat (unconditioned stimulus) with the sight of a circle (conditioned stimulus), and dogs learned to salivate in response to the presentation of a circle. The researchers found, however, that the dogs would also salivate when they saw an ellipse, an oval shape. Over time, as the dogs experienced more and more trials where they did not experience the taste of meat upon seeing the ellipse, they eventually became able to discriminate between the two similar stimuli. They would salivate in response to the circle, but not when they saw the ellipse.?? Discrimination in Operant Conditioning In operant conditioning, discrimination refers to responding only to the discriminative stimulus and not to similar stimuli. For example, imagine that you have trained your dog to jump in the air whenever you say the command, Jump! In this instance, discrimination refers to your dogs ability to distinguish between the command for jumping and similar commands such as sit, stay, or speak. Stimulus Discrimination vs. Stimulus Generalization Stimulus discrimination can be contrasted with a similar phenomenon known as stimulus generalization. In classical conditioning, for example, stimulus generalization would involve being unable to distinguish between the conditioned stimulus and other similar stimuli. In the famous Little Albert experiment, a young boy was conditioned to fear a white rat, but he displayed the fear response upon the presentation of similar white, furry objects.??