A rat in a Skinner box is going through several training sessions where the light that illuminates the box is alternately turned on and off.When the light is on, a bar press will produce food.When the light is off, bar pressing goes unrewarded.We soon observe that the rat presses vigorously when the light is on and ignores the bar when the light is off.This illustrates
A)stimulus control.
B)operant extinction.
C)stimulus generalization.
D)a resistance to extinction.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This scenario demonstrates stimulus control, which refers to the ability of a specific stimulus (in this case, the light) to reliably evoke a particular response (bar pressing for food). The rat has learned that the presence of the light signals the availability of food, so it presses the bar when the light is on, but not when it is off. The other options (B, C, and D) do not accurately describe this scenario - operant extinction occurs when a previously reinforced behavior is no longer rewarded or reinforced, stimulus generalization is the tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the original learning stimulus, and a resistance to extinction occurs when a behavior persists even when it is no longer reinforced.

A Rat in a Skinner Box Is Going Through Several