Stimulus control

Stimulus control is said to occur when an organism behaves in one way in the presence of a given stimulus and another way in its absence. For example, the presence of a stop sign increases the probability that "braking" behavior will occur. Typically stimulus control is brought about by reinforcing a behavior in the presence of one stimulus and omitting reinforcement in the presence of another stimulus. Cognitive control and stimulus control represent opposite processes (i.e., internal vs external or environmental, respectively) that compete over the control of an individual's elicited behaviors.