Final answer:
Students learn to respond differently to a fire alarm than to the end-of-class bell through stimulus discrimination, a form of classical conditioning where responses are tailored to specific stimuli based on their significance or conditioned meaning.
Step-by-step explanation:
When students learn to respond differently to the fire alarm than they do to the bell at the end of class periods, this is an example of stimulus discrimination. This form of learning is a part of classical conditioning, where individuals learn to distinguish and react differently to similar stimuli after repeated exposure. For instance, in school settings, students develop a specific reaction to a fire alarm, which signals immediate evacuation, as opposed to the end-of-class bell, which indicates a transition to another class or a break. This differentiation in response is essential for appropriate reactions in different situations.
This concept is related to the way in which prairie dogs habituate to the sound of human footsteps, responding with an alarm only when they hear the sounds of predators, and not to the harmless footsteps. It's similar to how humans learn to associate specific outcomes or consequences with particular stimuli, and over time, respond only to those that have a significant or conditioned meaning.