Delta Stimulus: What It Is, Characteristics And Examples
As we know, in the field of psychology a stimulus would be any type of signal, whether internal or external, that can effectively influence the sensory systems of any organism (e.g., people or animals). There are also several types of stimuli, among which we can find the delta stimulus.
A delta stimulus (E∆) is that type of stimulus that is present at the moment in which a response is being subjected to punishment and/or extinction; The presence of a delta stimulus (E∆) will reduce the probability and/or rate of responses that had previously been punished or extinguished in its presence.
In this article you will find a summary of what a delta stimulus (E∆) consists of and we will also present some examples that allow us to better understand this phenomenon related to operant or instrumental conditioning; although first it is advisable to explain some concepts that will allow us to better understand later what a delta stimulus (E∆) is.
We are going to explain what discriminative stimuli consist of due to its relationship with the delta stimulus (E∆) (as we will see in the next subsection), so below we will see what this type of stimuli consists of.
We would be talking about discriminative stimuli (Ed) when referring to that class of stimuli that indicate the probability that a given response is going to be reinforced, so the presence of a discriminative stimulus makes it more likely that those responses that had been been reinforced in the presence of said discriminative stimulus (Ed).
There are the following types of discriminative stimuli: on the one hand there are positive discriminative stimuli and, on the other, negative ones.
Relationship between the discriminative stimulus (Ed) and the delta stimulus (E∆)
To see what the relationship is between the discriminative stimulus (Ed) and the delta stimulus (E∆), we can explain it by giving an example of how training in discrimination of some stimuli can be carried out, as follows:
First, when a discriminative stimulus is present, the behavior is reinforced.
In second place, As long as another previous stimulus, other than the discriminative stimulus, is present, the behavior will not be reinforced While discrimination training is taking place, any previous stimulus that is present at the time when the behavior is not strengthened is called a delta stimulus (E∆).
Therefore, a delta stimulus (E∆) acts in the opposite way to a discriminative stimulus, since a discriminative stimulus (Ed) serves to warn us that the reinforcer we want is available, while the delta stimulus (E∆) would indicate to us that our behavior will probably not be reinforced as we expected
Now that we have seen what a discriminative stimulus is and what the different types are, among which is the negative discriminative stimulus (Ed-) or delta stimulus (E∆), we will proceed to explain in greater detail what this type of stimulus consists of. discriminative stimulus.
What is a delta stimulus (E∆)?
A delta stimulus (E∆) It is the type of stimulus that is present at the moment in which a response is being subjected to punishment and/or extinction The presence of a delta stimulus (E∆) will reduce the probability and/or rate of responses that had previously been punished or extinguished in its presence.
Therefore, a delta stimulus (E∆) is that type of stimulus that, when a specific response is present, will not be reinforced, so increases the probability that that type of response will not be carried out again on future occasions when the delta stimulus (E∆) is present.
Normally, a delta stimulus (E∆) is present at the moment in which a certain response is to be subjected to extinction or punishment, since thanks to this type of stimulus it would be possible to prevent that type of response from being carried out, for example. which the delta stimulus could function as a kind of signal that indicates that that certain response that is intended to be prevented from occurring is not going to be emitted.
Examples of delta stimulus (E∆) in everyday life according to psychology
Below we are going to explain several examples from everyday life that allow us to better understand how a delta stimulus (E∆) works.
A given response could be controlled by a discriminative stimulus (Ed) and by a delta stimulus (E∆). To see an example in which the delta stimulus comes into play in everyday life, let’s imagine a grocery vending machine in which we have inserted a coin in order to buy a bag of snacks.
If when you enter the code for the bag of snacks we want into the machine, a green light turns on, that means that that product is available; instead, If a red light comes on, that means the product is out of stock
In these cases, the operant response would be to press the button to select the snack bag and, logically, we will be more likely to press the button to obtain the snack bag if when selecting it, to see if it is available, it lights up. the green light to press it to select that product if we had previously seen that the red light came on, thus indicating to us that it was out of stock.
Therefore, in this example, the green light would act as a discriminative stimulus (Ed) because it indicates the availability of the reinforcer in the event that the operant response is emitted; while the red light would act as a delta stimulus (E∆), since it indicates the absence of the reinforcer in case the operant response occurs.
2. A child who misbehaves
Another example of a delta stimulus (E∆) that could occur in everyday life would be the case of a child who, when he is with his grandmother, only manifests various disruptive behaviors; instead, When his mother is present or he is only with her, he does not carry out this type of behavior In this case, her mother would be the delta stimulus (E∆).
3. Training a dog
When a trainer is training a dog to discriminate, the dog responds quite frequently in the presence of a series of stimuli that are similar to discriminatory stimuli; In this case, the delta stimuli (E∆) are those similar stimuli (normally called “cold stimuli” by trainers). However, eventually the dog’s response to the delta stimulus (E∆) will be turned off.
Let’s take the example of a dog that has the habit of biting house slippers. To prevent them from doing so, the trainer will place some slippers on one side of the room and one meter further, he will place an approved toy that has been designed so that the animals can bite it and play with it. When he bites the toy, the dog will be reinforced by the trainer with a dog biscuit; instead, If he bites the shoe he will not receive a cookie, so he will not be reinforced
At the beginning of training it is common for him to bite both the shoe and the toy; However, after several trials, he will only bite the toy. In this case, the walking shoes would become a delta stimulus (E∆), thus causing the trainer to get the dog to bite them.
4. When driving a vehicle
To see another example of delta stimulus (E∆) in everyday life, let’s imagine the case of a STOP sign, which indicates that vehicle drivers must stop when they encounter it, in order to look carefully at both sides to continue their journey. walk as soon as they see that there is no vehicle nearby on the street they are going to cross in order to avoid accidents. In this case The STOP signal would be a delta stimulus (E∆), since it would increase the probability that drivers would engage in braking behavior upon encountering this signal.
In this example we just saw, stimulus-based behavioral control is carried out when the presence or absence of some discriminative stimulus (Ed) or some delta stimulus (E∆) controls the performance of a specific behavior.
