National Counselor Exam (NCE)

A dog trained to stop at a duck call but not a goose call demonstrates what concept?

1. Generalization

2. Conditioning

3. Stimulus discrimination

4. Reinforcement

The correct answer is: Stimulus discrimination

The concept demonstrated by a dog that is trained to stop at a duck call but not a goose call is stimulus discrimination. This occurs when an animal can distinguish between different stimuli and responds only to the specific stimulus they have been trained to recognize. In this case, the dog has learned to associate the particular sound of the duck call with a command to stop, while it does not respond to the goose call, indicating it can differentiate between these two distinct calls. Stimulus discrimination is critical in training scenarios as it shows that the animal has an understanding of specific cues in its environment and can respond appropriately based on those cues. This contrasts with generalization, where an animal might respond similarly to stimuli that are similar but not identical, and conditioning, which refers more broadly to the process of learning through reinforcement or punishment. Reinforcement is a mechanism used during training to increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated, but it doesn't specifically address the animal's ability to distinguish between different stimuli.