Discrimination training
A procedure that reinforces a response in the presence of one stimulus (the SD) and withholds reinforcement for that response in the presence of other stimuli (S-deltas).
Discrimination training teaches a learner to respond one way in the presence of one stimulus and not in the presence of others. Responses to the SD are reinforced; the same responses in the presence of an S-delta are not. Over many trials, the learner comes to respond reliably to the SD and not to the S-deltas, which is called stimulus control.
Most receptive identification programs are discrimination training. When the RBT says "Touch the spoon" with a spoon, a cup and a plate on the table, touching the spoon is reinforced and touching the other items is not. Teaching a child to answer the door only when the doorbell rings, or to cross the street only when the walk sign is lit, works the same way.
Good discrimination training rotates the position of the items, mixes trials of different targets, and uses several examples of each stimulus so that the learner responds to the relevant feature and not to a side cue, such as always picking the item on the left. Prompts may be used and faded as the plan describes.
Discrimination training is listed as its own task (C.6) on the RBT Test Content Outline. The RBT presents trials as written, reinforces only correct responses, and records data accurately so the supervisor can tell when the discrimination is mastered.
Example and non-example
| Example | The RBT places a red and a blue card on the table and says "Touch red." Touching red earns a token; touching blue earns no token, and the RBT moves to the plan's error correction. Card positions change on every trial. |
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| Non-example | The RBT reinforces a child for touching a red card every time it is presented alone on the table. With no other stimulus to discriminate from, this is not discrimination training. |
Don't confuse it with
| Stimulus discrimination | Discrimination training is the teaching procedure; stimulus discrimination is the result, responding differently to different stimuli. |
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| Stimulus generalization | Generalization is responding the same way to similar stimuli; discrimination training teaches responding differently to different stimuli. |
Test yourself
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Question 1What does discrimination training involve?
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B: Reinforcing a response when one stimulus is present and not when other stimuli are present. Discrimination training is differential reinforcement across stimuli: the response is reinforced when the SD is present and not reinforced (extinction) when an S-delta is present. Over time the response occurs mainly in the presence of the SD.
- A: That describes shaping, which changes the form of a response rather than which stimuli it occurs in the presence of.
- C: That describes forward chaining, which links steps of a behavior chain.
- D: That describes programming for generalization, which spreads a response to new stimuli instead of narrowing which stimuli control it.
Task C.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 2In a clinic, a client now touches the cat picture when told "Touch cat" and does not touch the other pictures in the array. Touching the cat picture after that instruction is reinforced; touching the other pictures is not. The client's pattern of responding shows:
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C: Stimulus control. When a response reliably occurs in the presence of a particular stimulus and not in its absence, the response is under stimulus control. Differential reinforcement in discrimination training is what produces it.
- A: Response generalization is the appearance of new, untrained responses similar to the trained one; here one response reliably occurs in the presence of one stimulus.
- B: No prompt is involved; the client responds correctly to the instruction and picture alone.
- D: Spontaneous recovery is the return of a behavior after extinction, often at the start of a later session; it does not describe accurate responding.
Task C.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3A toddler who recently learned the word "doggy" now says "doggy" for dogs, cats, cows and horses. This pattern most clearly shows a need for:
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D: Discrimination training between dogs and other animals. Saying "doggy" to many similar animals is stimulus generalization that has gone too far. Discrimination training reinforces "doggy" in the presence of dogs and not in the presence of other animals, so other animals become S-deltas for that word.
- A: The child already extends the word beyond dogs; more generalization training would not teach the difference between dogs and other animals.
- B: The word is said clearly; the problem is which animals it is said to, not its form.
- C: Thinning changes how often the word is reinforced overall, not which animals it is said to.
Task C.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.6 Discrimination training in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.