Training and testing for a transformation of fear and avoidance functions via combinatorial entailment using the...

Experiment 1 of the current research attempted to establish fear and avoidance functions for arbitrary stimuli via combinatorial entailment using training and testing versions of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). The critical tests for the transformation of functions involved exposure to two separate Test-IRAPs (one for fear and one for avoidance), but both failed to yield any evidence for the transformation of functions. The findings of Experiment 1 contrast with the clear evidence of a transformation of functions via mutually entailed relations that was reported by Leech et al. (2018), thus suggesting a potential boundary condition for the IRAP as a training and testing context (i.e., derived transformation occurs for mutual but not combinatorial entailing). In Experiment 2, we sought to manipulate two of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional multi-level (MDML) framework to determine if they would alter the apparent boundary condition suggested by the results of Experiment 1. Results indicate that levels of derivation and an opportunity to respond to the derived relations play an important role in the transformation of fear and avoidance functions via combinatorial entailment within the IRAP context.