Final answer:
Learned response generalization based on minimal physical similarity is when an organism exhibits conditioned responses to stimuli that are only slightly similar to the conditioned stimulus. An example is a dog conditioned to salivate at the ringing of a bell, but then begins to salivate at the sound of a similar tone, such as a phone notification, displaying this generalization.
Step-by-step explanation:
Learned Response Generalization Based on Minimal Physical Similarity
Learned response generalization based on minimal physical similarity occurs when an organism exhibits a conditioned response to stimuli that are minimally similar to the conditioned stimulus. In this case, the responses are not elicited by the presence of the exact conditioned stimulus but rather by stimuli that contain only small elements or cues of the original. For example, if an individual has been conditioned to feel anxiety when hearing the sound of a dentist’s drill, they may experience a similar response when hearing a sound that has a slight resemblance, such as the high-pitched noise of a kitchen blender.
Example of Learned Response Generalization
Consider a dog that has been conditioned to salivate upon hearing a bell ringing because it signals feeding time. If the dog begins to salivate when it hears a similar sound, such as a phone notification, even though it has never been fed following that particular sound, this demonstrates learned response generalization based on minimal physical similarity. The dog's response to the phone notification is a generalized response to what it has learned from the bell sound.