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Related Experiment Video

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Functional equivalence and class expansion in rats using olfactory stimuli.

Elijah J Richardson¹, Madeleine G Mason¹, Skylar Murphy¹

¹University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

|May 21, 2025

Summary

Simple discrimination reversal procedures successfully formed functional equivalence classes in rats. Class expansion was observed in most rats when training began with smaller classes, suggesting a shared property with human equivalence classes.

Keywords:

class expansion functional equivalence olfaction rats stimulus equivalence

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An Objective and Reproducible Test of Olfactory Learning and Discrimination in Mice

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Published on: March 22, 2018

Area of Science:

Animal Behavior
Learning and Cognition

Background:

Simple discrimination reversal procedures are established methods for demonstrating functional equivalence classes in animal models.
Functional equivalence classes are sets of stimuli that elicit similar behavioral responses, even without direct training between all members.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate class expansion in rats following the formation of functional equivalence classes using olfactory stimuli.
To determine if the discrimination reversal procedure can be used to train functional equivalence between established classes and novel stimuli.

Main Methods:

Rats were trained on successive simple discrimination tasks with olfactory stimuli assigned to arbitrary sets.
Reinforcement contingencies were reversed after discriminated responding emerged, with repeated reversals employed.
Probe sessions and subsequent expansion training with novel stimuli were used to assess class formation and expansion.

Main Results:

Functional equivalence classes were demonstrated in 14 of 15 rats after repeated reversals.
Class expansion was observed in six of eight rats when expansion training commenced with smaller, pre-formed equivalence classes (Experiments 2 and 3).
Expansion training initiated after larger classes were formed (Experiment 1) did not yield clear evidence of class expansion.

Conclusions:

The discrimination reversal procedure is a viable strategy for demonstrating functional equivalence classes and their expansion in rats.
Class expansion in rats mirrors properties observed in human equivalence classes, indicating a shared learning mechanism.
Further research utilizing this procedure can advance our understanding of equivalence formation and expansion in animal models.