Matt classically conditions his dog, Wally, to salivate when he strums the G chord on his guitar by providing food after the chord is played. He notices that Wally does not salivate to a D chord. Wally's lack of a response to the D chord illustrates the phenomenon of ________.
A) counterconditioning
B) stimulus discrimination
C) stimulus generalization
D) instinctive drift

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Wally's lack of response to the D chord demonstrates stimulus discrimination, which occurs when an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar but not identical. In this case, Wally has learned to associate the G chord with food, but not the D chord, indicating that he can distinguish between the two stimuli.

Matt Classically Conditions His Dog, Wally, to Salivate When He