An Evaluation of Two Stimulus Equivalence Training Sequences on the Emergence of Novel Intraverbals

Researchers have begun to investigate the emergence of novel intraverbals using equivalence-based instruction (EBI) in typically developing children (Carp & Petursdottir, 2012; Pérez-González, Herszlikowicz, & Williams, 2008). We sought to replicate and extend the previous research by investigating two stimulus equivalence training sequences (e.g., linear series-LS and one to many-OTM) in the emergence of novel intraverbals in a two-part study with college students. Experiment 1 was designed to partially replicate the previous research by training intraverbals using an LS arrangement and then testing for the emergence of novel intraverbals. Novel intraverbals did not emerge after baseline training alone for the majority of participants. Experiment 2 investigated whether a different training sequence (i.e., OTM) would result in the emergence of novel intraverbals. Novel intraverbals did emerge following baseline training alone for the majority of participants. Overall, these results suggest that training intraverbals in an OTM training sequence may establish conditional discriminations during training, which may make it a more advantageous sequence, in that following training, more novel intraverbals emerge.