LESSON 9

Stimulus Control

Introduction To ABA
Stimulus Control

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 STIMULUS CONTROL These are examples of behaviours under stimulus
As you are aware, behaviour does not occur randomly. control. The behaviours occurred only when certain
Almost all behaviour tends to occur in some situations antecedent stimuli are present. The mother’s
but not in others. requesting behaviour was under stimulus control of her
daughter’s facial expression. Your store-door-opening
behaviour was under stimulus control of the open and
EXAMPLES:
closed signs.
The mother of a teenage girl would like to request
that her daughter tidy her room. If the girl is
Movie Stimulus Equivalence.1 Ronan’s behaviours under
smiling, the mother knows she is likely to respond stimulus control
to the request. (The mother’s requesting behaviour
will be reinforced). On the other hand, if the girl is
glowering, she is unlikely to respond to the request.
(The mother’s requesting behaviour will not be
reinforced. It might even be punished.) Thus the
mother will be more likely to ask her daughter to
clean her room when she is smiling.

You are going to the store to buy some milk. You

notice that the sign on the store door says “open”.
You push open the door to the store, and this is
reinforced by access to the store (and to the milk that
is inside!) On the other hand, if the sign on the door
said “closed”, you would not push on the door, as
this response would not be reinforced.

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 DISCRIMINATION You can think of an Sd as being a cue for the
A behaviour comes under stimulus control of an behaviour. It is as if the Sd is a signal “reinforcement is
antecedent stimulus if the behaviour is reinforced when now available for this response -- so respond!”
the stimulus is present and not reinforced when the EXAMPLES
stimulus is absent. When a behaviour is reinforced, any
• Answering the phone only when it rings
stimulus present may become a discriminative
stimulus (Sd) for that behaviour. That means that in Sd ! Answering! Not Reinforced= Less
the future the behaviour is more likely to occur when ! ! ! ! ! likely to do again
the Sd is present, than when it is not.

EXAMPLE:

Saying “dog” in the presence of the dog,

but not the cat
Reinforced
Sdelta Answering! ! Reinforced= More
Dog ! ! ! ! ! likely to do again

Awesome!
That is a
Dog
Not
Reinforced
Dog
X
That is a • Saying “Hi Aunt Mary” to Aunt Mary, but not Uncle
Cat Joe

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 STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION DISCRIMINATION TRAINING
AND PUNISHMENT The concept of stimulus control
Stimulus discrimination also occurs as a result of is very important when you are
punishment. You may be scolded for burping in front teaching skills. You almost
of your grandmother and, as a result, refrain from always want the person to use
burping in front of her (evidence that scolding worked the skill in some situations but
as a punisher). As a result of punishment, your not in others. The process for
grandmother has become an Sd signaling that burping this is called discrimination
will be punished. If you burn your hand by touching a training:
red hot element, the redness of the element will be an When the stimulus that you
Sd signaling that touching the element will be would like to become an Sd is
punished. These Sd’s will suppress the behaviours. present, and the response
occurs, deliver the behaviour.

In these situations the Sd is a signal “punishment will When that stimulus is not present, do not reinforce
occur if you respond – so don’t respond!” the behaviour. Any other antecedent stimuli
present when the behaviour is not reinforced are
called SΔ’s (“S-deltas”).

As a result, the behaviour is most likely to occur in the

presence of the Sd.

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Many behaviours are taught through discrimination Match to sample training is a type of discrimination
training. Here is an example: training commonly used in teaching basic skills to
children. The child is presented with a sample
Antecedent Child’s response Consequence

Printed word DOG “Dog” Teacher praises (Sr+)

stimulus, and some comparison stimuli to choose from.
The child must then pick the one that goes with the
Printed word FISH “Dog” No praise (no Sr+)
sample. The correct choice would be the Sd. The
Printed word BOY “Dog” No praise (no Sr+)
DOG becomes an Sd for the response “Dog”.
incorrect choices would be SΔs.
FISH and BOY are SΔ’’s for the response “Dog”.

As you can see, reading is behaviour under stimulus

control of the letters and words on the page. EXAMPLE
Compliance is behaviour under stimulus control of “Point to the one that is the same”
someone else’s instructions.If a child follows an
M
instruction and receives Sr+ or Sr-, instructions become
Sd’s for complying. Sample Stimulus

Choices M T X

! ! ! Sd SΔ SΔ

In the example above, the M is the Sd --- pointing to it

will be reinforced. The T and the X are SΔ’s. Pointing
to them will not be reinforced.

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However, the M was only the correct response because Movie Stimulus Equivalence.2 Lorem Ipsum
dolor amet, consectetur
the instruction was “point to the one that is the same”.
If the instruction had been “Point to the one that is not
the same”, then M would have been the SΔ and S and X
would have been Sd’s.

Movie: Stimulus Control Sd’s and S Deltas

Review Stimulus Equivalence.1

Question 10 of 10
Next time the child is asked to point to the bird, they are
less likely to point to the _____________?

A. Mushroom

B. Bird

C. Gecko

Check Answer

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 GENERALIZATION
Sometimes a behaviour that is under control of an Sd
will occur when the Sd isn’t there. If an antecedent
stimulus is similar to the Sd, it may evoke the
behaviour. When this happens, it is called
generalization.
• Generalization is also said to occur if the behaviour
occurs in situations other than the situation in which
it was taught.
• Johnny learned to set the table at home with the white
dishes. He can also set the table at his babysitter’s
house, with their yellow dishes.

• A 2 year old learns to call her bespectacled • Peter learned to use the toilet at home. He now also
grandmother (Sd) “Gramma”. When she sees another uses the toilet at day care.
woman with glasses (similar to the Sd) she calls her
• Marla learned to read the word EXIT written on cue
“Gramma”.
cards in block letters using black ink. She was then
• Sandy knows how to play with play dough (Sd). able to read EXIT, exit and exit without being taught.
When he sees plasticine (similar to the Sd), he plays
with it the same way.

• Dennis learned to identify animals. His mother has

shown him pictures of a St. Bernard (Sd), a
Chihuahua (Sd) and a Labrador retriever (Sd), and
taught him to label them as “dog”. When Dennis sees
a Sheltie – a dog he has never seen before (but an
animal similar to the Sd’s for “dog”) – he is able to
identify it as a dog.

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