Stimulus control
When a behavior reliably occurs (or occurs differently) in the presence of a particular antecedent stimulus because of a history of reinforcement in its presence.
A behavior is under stimulus control when the presence or absence of a particular stimulus changes how likely the behavior is, or its speed or form. Stopping at a red light and going on green, answering only when your own name is called, and saying "dog" only when seeing a dog are examples. Stimulus control develops through discrimination training: the behavior is reinforced when the SD is present and not when it is absent.
Much of teaching aims to bring behavior under the control of the right stimulus. When an RBT prompts, the response is at first controlled by the prompt. The purpose of prompt fading is transfer of stimulus control, so that the natural SD, rather than the RBT's prompt, evokes the response.
Stimulus control can also be faulty. A learner may respond to an unintended cue, such as the RBT glancing at the correct card, the position of the card, or the order of trials. Varying positions, keeping the RBT's own behavior neutral and mixing trials help prevent this.
Stimulus control is not the same as compliance or obedience. It describes a relation between a stimulus and a behavior that comes from reinforcement history.
Example and non-example
| Example | After training, a client answers "What's your name?" with their name but does not say their name when asked "How old are you?" The question is controlling the answer. |
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| Non-example | A client says "cookie" correctly only when the RBT mouths the word first. The response is under the control of the RBT's prompt, not the intended SD, so the target stimulus control has not yet been reached. |
Don't confuse it with
| Discrimination training | Discrimination training is the procedure; stimulus control is the outcome it produces. |
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| Prompt dependence | Prompt dependence is stimulus control by the prompt rather than by the natural SD. |
Test yourself
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Question 1An RBT assessing picture identification places the correct picture on the left side every time. What is the main risk?
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B: The client may choose by position instead of by the picture. When the correct answer is always in the same place, a client can be correct by choosing that position. Arranging the positions as the procedure directs ensures correct answers reflect the skill being assessed.
- A: Boredom is not the main issue; the problem is that position becomes a cue.
- C: The position does not make recording harder.
- D: Picture placement does not change the response from selecting to naming.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task C.6
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Question 2During a receptive identification program, an RBT notices that the client picks the card closest to their right hand on most trials, whichever picture is the target. What does this pattern most likely show?
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D: A position bias, with choices controlled by location. When a client picks by location instead of by the target stimulus, responding is under the wrong stimulus control (a position bias). The RBT should keep rotating card positions as the plan directs and tell the supervisor about the pattern.
- A: The client is responding without waiting for prompts; the problem is which card they choose.
- B: Satiation would lower responding overall, not produce choices based on location.
- C: An extinction burst follows withholding a reinforcer for a behavior; nothing here was put on extinction.
Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3In 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
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.