Stimulus generalization
In behavioral research, stimulus generalization is the reaction of an animal or person to a stimulus , which occurs in exactly the same way as the previously learned reaction to another, similar stimulus.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov described it as follows in 1927:
- “If the tactile irritation of a certain skin area has been made a conditional stimulus , then a corresponding irritation of other skin areas will also trigger the conditional reaction to a certain extent, the extent of which decreases the further away the irritation occurs from the original skin area. "
Another example is known from experiments with pigeons: if they were taught to show a certain reaction to a tone of 1000 Hz, they show the same reaction to a tone of 300 Hz.
The opposite of stimulus generalization is stimulus discrimination .
See also
- Behavioral therapy , including conditioning (learning of stimulus-response patterns)
- Information overload
- Overstimulation
- Stimulus filtering
- Disruption of sensory processing (disruption of stimulus filtering)
literature
- Iwan Petrowitsch Pawlow: Conditioned reflexes: an investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. Oxford University Press, London 1927.