Which term describes systematically fading out additional stimuli introduced to teach a skill and transferring control from ancillary stimuli to the target stimuli?

• A. Stimulus Fading Procedures
• B. Prompt and Prompt Fading Procedures
• C. Prompt Hierarchy
• D. Behavioral Chaining

Answer: (A)

The idea here is systematically removing extra cues that help the learner perform a skill so that the response comes under control of the target stimulus alone. Stimulus fading procedures involve introducing prompts or augmented cues to help teach the skill, then gradually fading those prompts or accompanying stimuli. Over time, the learner responds correctly to the target stimulus without relying on the additional cues, transferring control from the ancillary stimuli to the target stimulus.

This is why it’s the best fit: it directly describes fading out the added stimuli used to teach the skill and shifting control to the target stimuli, which is the essence of stimulus fading.

Why the other terms aren’t as exact: prompting procedures and their fading focus mainly on removing prompts themselves rather than fading the broader set of stimuli used to guide learning. A prompt hierarchy is about the order and level of prompts used, not the full process of fading all extra stimuli to rely on the target stimulus. Behavioral chaining describes linking steps in a sequence, not fading stimuli to transfer control.