Stimulus Classes

Stimulus

• An event, either internal or external, that influences behavior.
• Examples include: muscle spasms, bright light, loud noises, presence of another person.
• Has physical features, temporal aspects, and functional characteristics.
• Represents an energy change affecting an organism through receptor cells.
• Receptors detect environmental changes inside and outside the body.

Human Body Systems Impacted by Stimuli

• Proprioceptors: Receive stimulation from joints, tendons, and muscles.
• Interceptors: Receive stimulation from internal organs.
• Exteroceptors: Responsible for the five senses: hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting.

Stimulus Class

• A group of stimuli sharing a common effect on a particular behavior.
• Members evoke or suppress the same response class despite variations in physical dimensions.

Types of Stimulus Classes

• Formal: Stimuli share physical features like size, color, intensity, weight, and spatial positions.
• Temporal: Relates to time, including antecedent stimuli (occurring before behavior) and consequence stimuli (occurring after behavior).
• Functional: Defined by the stimulus's effect on behavior. A single stimulus can have multiple functions, with immediate or delayed effects.

Feature Stimulus Class

• Shared topographies and relative relations (e.g., spatial arrangements).
• Involves an infinite number of stimuli generated by stimulus generalization.
• Examples include concepts like "dog," "house," "tree," "bigger than," "smaller than," and "on top of."

Arbitrary Stimulus Class

• Stimuli evoke the same response but lack common physical features.
• Limited number of stimuli.
• Created through stimulus equivalence.

Feature and Formal Stimulus Classes

• Often go hand in hand.

Respondent Behavior

• Involuntary behavior elicited without prior learning.
• Elicited by antecedents (unconditioned stimuli, US).
• An eliciting stimulus (US) produces an unconditioned response (UR/reflex) part of an organism's genetic makeup.
• Phylogenic/Phylogeny: Genetically inherited behavior. Respondent behavior is due to this history.
• Rarely changes during lifetime.
• Product of natural evolution, providing protection for our species.

Habituation

• Occurs when the unconditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly over a short period, causing a decrease in the strength of the respondent behavior.

Respondent Conditioning

• Introduced by Ivan Pavlov.
• Neutral stimuli gain the ability to elicit respondent behaviors typically elicited by specific unconditioned stimuli.
• How humans develop new stimulus-response combinations.
• A stimulus is conditioned (CS) to elicit a new response (CR).
• Involves pairing (not learning).

Respondent Extinction

• Pavlov observed that established conditioned reflexes weaken if a conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus for a period of time.
• Example: Bell without meat.

Stimulus Generalization

• The tendency for a learned response to occur to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimuli.
• Facilitates learning and adaptation by allowing learned behaviors to apply to a wider range of situations
• For example: A dog that has been conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell may also salivate at similar sounds.

Classical Conditioning

• A learning process that involves developing an association between a neutral stimulus and a meaningful stimulus, which evokes a learned response.
• Key Components:
  • Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Naturally elicits a response (e.g., food).
  • Unconditioned Response (UR): The natural, unlearned reaction to the US (e.g., salivation).
  • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A neutral stimulus that, when paired with the US, becomes associated and elicits a new response.
  • Conditioned Response (CR): The learned response to the CS, which is often the same as the UR (e.g., salivation to a bell).
• Process: Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and generalization.

Behavioral Response Analysis

• A method for quantifying and understanding how behavior changes in response to stimuli.
• Uses tools to measure responses:
  • Observational Methods: Recording and analyzing behavior in natural settings.
  • Experimental Methods: Manipulating variables to assess behavior changes.
• Measures: Frequency, duration, and intensity of responses.

Extinction Procedures

• The reduction or disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus (US).
• Reduces the learned association between the CS and US and is important in behavior modification.
• Types:
  • Classical Extinction: Involves repeatedly presenting the CS alone.
  • Operant Extinction: Involves withholding reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior.
• Effects: Can lead to spontaneous recovery, where responses may reappear after a pause.

Operant Conditioning

• A learning process that involves modifying behavior through consequences.
• Key Components:
  • Reinforcement: Increases the likelihood of a behavior.
  • Positive Reinforcement: Adding a favorable consequence.
  • Negative Reinforcement: Removing an unfavorable consequence.
  • Punishment: Decreases the likelihood of a behavior.
  • Positive Punishment: Adding an unfavorable consequence.
  • Negative Punishment: Removing a favorable condition.
• Schedules of Reinforcement:
  • Continuous: Reinforcement after every instance of the behavior.
  • Intermittent: Reinforcement after some instances, including fixed and variable ratios/intervals.
• Applications: Behavior modification in various settings, including education and therapy.

Explore how different types of stimuli, both internal and external, affect human behavior. This quiz covers the impact of sensory receptors and the classification of stimuli based on their effects. Test your knowledge on proprioceptors, interceptors, and exteroceptors along with their roles in behavior.