Discriminative response

A discriminative response is one made by an organism when it chooses between two or more stimuli that it has learnt are different in order to obtain a reward.

In a typical example a rat will be trained to distinguish between different coloured lights and can then learn to earn a reward for always pressing the lever under the red one.

With discrimination evident in the response it is possible to explore the sensory acuity of animals and their difference thresholds.