Psychology Roots 471
Overshadowing
Overshadowing is when two or more stimuli are present, and one stimulus produces a stronger response than the other because it is more relevant or salient. Let’s look at an example…
Let’s say you want to teach your dog to sit. If you lure your dog to a sitting position by dangling a treat over her, while at the same time saying “sit,” guess which stimulus is causing your dog to sit? In this case, smelling the treat overshadows hearing the word “sit” because the treat is more relevant than your voice.
