A human research participant is touched on the shoulder immediately before he receives an electric shock. This pairing occurs over many trials. Subsequent tests show that he will give a more vigorous galvanic skin response when touched on the shoulder, less vigorous when touched on the lower back, still less vigorous when touched on the thigh, and least when touched on the calf. The results are plotted with the galvanic skin response on the y-axis and the parts of the body on the x-axis. What is the resulting curve called?
A) an acquisition curve
B) an excitation gradient
C) a spread of inhibition curve
D) a generalization gradient

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The described pattern of results is characteristic of a generalization gradient, which shows how stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus (in this case, the touch on the shoulder) elicit a response that decreases in strength as the stimuli become less similar. This is a hallmark of classical conditioning, in which an organism learns to respond to a particular stimulus and also shows a response to similar stimuli.

A Human Research Participant Is Touched on the Shoulder Immediately