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A transfer of functions through derived arbitrary and nonarbitrary stimulus relations
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|January 1, 1993
Summary
This study demonstrates how learned behaviors, like low-rate and high-rate performances, can transfer to new stimuli through equivalence. This shows that stimulus generalization extends beyond explicitly trained associations in conditional discrimination tasks.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Learning and Cognition
- Stimulus Control
Background:
- Conditional discrimination involves learning relationships between stimuli.
- Equivalence-based learning is a key concept in understanding complex cognitive processes.
- Stimulus control refers to how environmental events influence behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the transfer of learned schedule performances to novel stimuli.
- To examine the role of equivalence in the generalization of discriminative functions.
- To explore how negative comparisons influence stimulus control in conditional discrimination.
Main Methods:
- Subjects were trained on conditional discriminations using a matching-to-sample format.
- Explicit training of low-rate and high-rate performances in the presence of specific stimuli.
- Transfer of learned performances to new stimuli, including physically similar novel stimuli and stimuli presented as negative comparisons.
Main Results:
- Learned schedule performances transferred to stimuli not explicitly trained with those performances, demonstrating equivalence.
- Discriminative functions generalized from trained stimuli to physically similar novel stimuli.
- Negative comparison stimuli (ND1, ND2) acquired discriminative control, but in an inverted pattern, influencing the opposite schedule performance.
Conclusions:
- Equivalence plays a crucial role in the generalization of learned performances across stimuli.
- The findings highlight the complex nature of stimulus control and derived relations.
- Conditional discrimination training can lead to unexpected but predictable shifts in stimulus control, even with negative comparisons.