Which term describes learning where a CR occurs to one stimulus but not to other similar stimuli?

Which term describes learning where a CR occurs to one stimulus but not to other similar stimuli?

• A. Spontaneous Recovery
• B. Trace Conditioning
• C. Respondent Discrimination
• D. Respondent Generalization

Answer: (C)

Discrimination in respondent conditioning is when an organism learns to respond to one specific stimulus but not to similar ones. The conditioned response is triggered by the particular cue that predicts the unconditioned stimulus, while similar cues that aren’t predictive fail to elicit the CR. For example, a dog might learn that a bell of a certain pitch predicts food and salivates to that pitch, but not to bells of different pitches. If the dog did salivate to similar bells, that would be generalization rather than discrimination. Other terms describe different phenomena: spontaneous recovery is the return of a removed response after extinction, trace conditioning involves a gap between the CS and US, and generalization would involve responding to a range of similar stimuli rather than to just one.

Discrimination in respondent conditioning is when an organism learns to respond to one specific stimulus but not to similar ones. The conditioned response is triggered by the particular cue that predicts the unconditioned stimulus, while similar cues that aren’t predictive fail to elicit the CR. For example, a dog might learn that a bell of a certain pitch predicts food and salivates to that pitch, but not to bells of different pitches. If the dog did salivate to similar bells, that would be generalization rather than discrimination. Other terms describe different phenomena: spontaneous recovery is the return of a removed response after extinction, trace conditioning involves a gap between the CS and US, and generalization would involve responding to a range of similar stimuli rather than to just one.