The question about the monkey hitting a bell was on some practice test...but the answer was messed up.
Here's the Q, not ""
A monkey is trained to push a button every time it hears a bell ring. After it has been trained, the bell is rung every minute for two days, after which time, the monkey no longer pushes the button when the bell rings. This is an example of what?
a) habituation
b) extinction
c) stimulus generalization
d) stimulas discrimination
e) imprinting
The answer in the Kaplan test is (b). but it doesn't make sense for a couple reasons.
First, we know (c) and (d) are wrong based on the definitions of those two answers. (e) is wrong because this has nothing to do with a critical period of time when a pattern or behavior is learned. That leaves (a) and (b)
(a) seems like the better answer since the stimulus (bell) becomes so constant in the environment, that the monkey learns to ignore it. However, (a) isn't perfect, because habituation refers to getting used to a stimulus that normally causes a startle response, and learning to push a button isn't a startle response.
(b) is the answer Kaplan says is right...and I have issues with that. Extinction refers to classical pavlovian conditions. An unconditioned stimulus is paired with a conditioned stimulus to get an animal to respond to either stimulus in the same way. Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus to create the response and over time, the response to the conditioned stimulus disappears. The monkey example, however, fails to fit this concept. First, there is no unconditioned stimulus that would naturally make a monkey hit a button. The question also makes no mention of what unconditioned stimulus there might be? Also, the frequency (once every minute) is more along the lines of habituation than extinction...
I personally think this was just a badly worded question, and on the DAT, they aren't this tricky about things.
