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Updated: Jan 13, 2026
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Modeling Verbal Behavior Deficits with the Stimulus Control Ratio Equation, SCoRE
Published on: May 14, 2019
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Instructed prevention actions reveal the associative nature of propositional response-effect contingency knowledge
Solveig Tonn1, Viola Mocke2, Moritz Schaaf1
1Department of Psychology, Trier University, Germany.
Cognition
|January 10, 2026
Summary
Verbal instructions alone can create action-event links for prevention actions. Surprisingly, behavior is facilitated by the event to be prevented, not its absence, forming propositional and associative linkages.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Prevention actions aim to prevent specific events, making action-event linkages unclear.
- Understanding how verbal instructions establish these linkages is crucial for behavior modification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if verbal instructions alone can form action-event linkages for prevention.
- To determine how memorized propositional knowledge influences behavior in subsequent tasks.
Main Methods:
- Participants memorized propositional knowledge about prevention actions.
- The impact of this knowledge on actions in an unrelated task was assessed.
Main Results:
- Actions were facilitated by the event they were intended to prevent.
- Behavior was not influenced by the absence of the prevented event.
- Linkages were propositional (from instructions) and associative (impacting behavior).
Conclusions:
- Verbal instructions can establish propositional action-event linkages for prevention.
- These linkages function associatively, influencing behavior unexpectedly.
- Findings challenge traditional views on prevention and associative learning.
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