Response Transfer between Stimuli in Generalized Equivalence Classes: A Model for the Establishment of Natural Kind and Fuzzy Superordinate Categories

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Interpreting and describing complex information are essential skills for effective functioning in many academic and occupational settings. For example, undergraduate psychology students must often interpret and describe the complex interactive effects of at least two variables on behavior. This experiment described a new procedure that enhanced the emergence of this difficult-to-learn skill: the prior training of selection-based conditional discriminations between graphs of interactions and their printed descriptions. The accuracy and completeness of written descriptions for students who received standard conditional discrimination training procedures were very low and no better than those obtained from students who were in a test-retest control group. Two other specially designed conditional discrimination conditions involved training that established explicit control by many elements in the graphs and their corresponding textual elements in the printed descriptions of the graphs. These groups showed notable improvements in their written descriptions. The behavioral mechanisms responsible for these effects are discussed. Finally, these findings might inform the development of instructional packages to reliably induce this complex communicational repertoire in a variety of content areas.

Section: Mechanism Of Emergent Writing Repertoiressupporting

confidence: 89%

Describing Interactions After Multi-Element Conditional Discrimination Training: Learning to Write Without Writing

Spear

Fields

2015

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“…The generalization of equivalence relations to a range of novel stimuli has been reported a number of times in studies utilizing verbally competent, adult human subjects (e.g., Fields, Adams, Buffington, Yang, & Verhave, 1996;Fields & Reeve, 2001;Fields, Reeve, Adams, Brown, & Verhave, 1997;Fields, Reeve, Adams, & Verhave, 1991;Rehfeldt, 2003;Rehfeldt & Hayes, 2000;Rehfeldt, Hayes, & Steele, 1998). This body of research has revealed that equivalence relations may generalize to dimensional variants that are physically similar along some dimension to an original training stimulus.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Generalization and Retention of Equivalence Relations in Adults With Mental Retardation

Rehfeldt

Root

2004

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the generalization and long-term retention of equivalence relations in individuals with mental retardation . To date, the generalization of equivalence relations to a range of novel stimuli has only been demonstrated among verbally competent adults. The responding of many individuals with mental retardation often fails to come under control of relevant stimulus features and fails to generalize to novel stimuli. Thus, we assessed whether the generalization of stimulus equivalence would occur in the absence of remedial training for 4 adults with mild or moderate mental retardation. Subjects learned 6 conditional discriminations and were tested for the emergence and generalization of 3 symmetry and 3 equivalence relations . Subjects were also tested for their retention of the relations approximately 1 -4 months following their last laboratory session. All subjects showed the emergence and generalization of all of the relations in the absence of remedial training, and most showed the long-term retention of the relations. Accuracy improved during the retention test as a function of repeated testing for some subjects.The generalization of equivalence relations to a range of novel stimuli has been reported a number of times in studies utilizing verbally competent, adult human subjects

“…Fields, Adams, Brown, and Verhave (1993) demonstrated the generalization of membership in four-member equivalence classes to physical or dimensional variants of class members, following tests for equivalence. It was found that as the physical disparity between dimensional variants and class members systematically increased, the proportion of class-consistent responses declined (see also Fields, Reeve, Adams, & Verhave, 1991;and Fields, Adams, Buffington, Yang, & Verhave, 1996). Fields, Reeve, Adams, Brown, and Verhave (1997) used generalization gradients obtained prior to an equivalence test to predict to which dimensional variants stimulus class membership would generalize, and observed considerable overlap between pre-class and post-class gradients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Long-Term Retention Of Generalized Equivalence Classes

Rehfeldt

Hayes

2000

This experiment examined the retention of generalized equivalence classes. Seventeen subjects completed matching-tosample training, in which two-element stimulus compounds were presented as sample stimuli, and an equivalence test, in which those compounds were separated and each element was tested separately for its entry into equivalence relations with the other stimuli. A generalization test was then conducted, in which dimensional variants (along the dimension of hue) of one member of each class were presented ·as sample stimuli on test trials for two generalized symmetry relations and one generalized equivalence relation. Equivalence and generalization retention tests were conducted for 8 subjects 2-3 months following their initial laboratory session. This experiment also employed a verbal protocol analysis, in which subjects' overt verbal behavior was recorded during both experimental sessions and examined in light of subjects' performances. More subjects demonstrated the retention of symmetry relations than within-compound or equivalence relations, and all subjects who showed the maintenance of equivalence and within-compound relations also showed the maintenance of symmetry relations. Generalized classes were shown to have remained stable over time for some subjects, while other subjects demonstrated the emergence of subject-defined generalized classes during the generalization retention test. Verbal protocol analyses showed that all subjects emitted a relatively greater frequency of verbal descriptions of stimulus relations under extinction testing situations than during training, and class-consistent names for generalized class-members appeared to be likely, but not necessary for the generalization of class membership.When verbally competent subjects are explicitly taught to make a