The formation of equivalence classes in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A review of the literature

McLay, Laurie; Sutherland, Dean; Church, John; Tyler-Merrick, Gaye

doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2012.11.002

Cited by 44 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Conversely, after over 25 years of study, behavior analysts have been unable to find systematic and replicable evidence even of symmetry in nonhuman animals assessed the way symmetry is assessed in stimulus equivalence or other derived relational research (Lionello‐DeNolf, ), an ability that is readily shown in human infants (Luciano, Gómez‐Becerra, & Rodríguez‐Valverde, ; Peláez, Gewirtz, Sanchez, & Mahabir, ). Behavior analysts have found in many studies that stimulus equivalence or other derived relational responses appear to relate to human linguistic and cognitive performance in both typically developing and disabled populations, both infants and adults (e.g., Devany, Hayes, & Nelson, ; McLay, Sutherland, Church, & Tyler‐Merrick, ; O'Hora, Pelaez, Barnes‐Holmes, Rae, Robinson, & Chaudhary, ; Peláez et al, ). Furthermore, training in derived relational responding has been consistently shown to increase verbal and cognitive performance in normal and disabled populations, both infants and adults (e.g., Cassidy, Roche, & Hayes, ; Luciano et al, ; Persicke, Tarbox, Ranick, & St. Clair, ; Weil, Hayes, & Cappuro, ) Thus, behavior analysis as a field seems torn about how to proceed conceptually and pragmatically: Nonhuman animals are regularly said to be showing language skills, but the skills known to be key to language in human subjects, nonhuman animals seemingly do not display.…”

Section: The Challenge Of Human Language and Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation came first: Evolution and human cognition

Hayes

Sanford

2013

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Contextual behavioral perspectives on learning and behavior reside under the umbrella of evolution science. In this paper we briefly review current developments in evolution science that bear on learning and behavior, concluding that behavior is now moving to the center of evolution studies. Learning is one of the main ladders of evolution by establishing functional benchmarks within which genetic adaptations can be advantaged. We apply that approach to the beginning feature of human cognition according to Relational Frame Theory: derived symmetry in coordination framing. When combined with the idea that cooperation came before major advances in human cognition or culture, existing abilities in social referencing, joint attention, perspective-taking skills, and relational learning ensure that the behavioral subcomponents of symmetrical equivalence relations would be reinforced. When coordination framing emerged and came under arbitrary contextual control as an operant class, a template was established for the development of multiple relational frames and the emergence and evolutionary impact of human cognition as we know it. Implications of these ideas for translational research are briefly discussed.

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Section: The Challenge Of Human Language and Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation came first: Evolution and human cognition

Hayes

Sanford

2013

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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“…Since the publication of Sidman's influential study on the use of a matching‐to‐sample (MTS) procedure to teach auditory–visual discriminations, behavior analysts have generated a large body of literature to account for the emergence of stimulus–stimulus relations and novel behavior that occurs without explicit training or a history of reinforcement (e.g., McLay, Sutherland, Church, & Tyler‐Merrick, ; Rehfeldt, ; Sidman, ). This phenomenon is known as stimulus equivalence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An evaluation of a visual–visual successive matching‐to‐sample procedure to establish equivalence classes in adults

Lantaya

Miguel

Howland

et al. 2018

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Traditionally, behavior analysts have studied stimulus equivalence using a matching-to-sample (MTS) preparation. Although researchers have shown the utility of MTS to yield equivalence classes, the procedure requires several prerequisite skills for a learner to accurately respond. Previous research with humans and nonhumans has shown that relational responding can be produced via compound stimulus discrimination and successive matching-to-sample (S-MTS). We conducted four experiments with college students to further evaluate the effectiveness of S-MTS in the establishment of stimulus relations. S-MTS trials consisted of the presentation of a single sample stimulus followed by one comparison in a fixed location on a computer screen. Depending upon the sample-comparison relation, participants touched (i.e., go) or did not touch (i.e., no-go) the comparison stimulus. Following training of the baseline relations (AB/BC), we assessed the emergence of symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence performances (i.e., BA/CB and AC/CA). Results support the utility of the S-MTS procedure as a possible alternative to traditional MTS. This study has direct implications for participants for whom traditional three-array MTS procedures may be challenging.

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“…Although failing to accurately perform during equivalence tests is not an unusual outcome with this population (McLay et al, ), it is possible that failures were related to lack of experience with multiple exemplar instruction for this type of responding (Rosales, Rehfeldt, & Lovett, ), poor verbal skills (Lee, Miguel, Darcey, & Jennings, ), or simply a product of prolonged testing conditions in the absence of reinforcement. The inclusion of symmetry tests served to verify whether participants had the prerequisite relation for equivalence (Sidman, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This allowed for the development of a teaching technology to establish socially valid relations in a fast and efficient manner (e.g., Rehfeldt, 2011). However, the establishment of conditional relations via MTS with children diagnosed with autism may depend upon modified teaching and testing conditions (Eikeseth & Smith, 1992;McLay, Sutherland, Church, & Tyler-Merrick, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Go/no‐go procedure with compound stimuli with children with autism

Silva

Debert

2017

J of App Behav Analysis

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The go/no-go with compound stimuli is an alternative to matching-to-sample to produce conditional and emergent relations in adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this procedure with two children diagnosed with autism. We trained and tested participants to respond to conditional relations among arbitrary stimuli using the go/no-go procedure. Both learned all the trained conditional relations without developing response bias or responding to no-go trials. Participants demonstrated performance consistent with symmetry, but not equivalence.

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The formation of equivalence classes in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A review of the literature

Cited by 44 publications

References 62 publications

Cooperation came first: Evolution and human cognition

Cooperation came first: Evolution and human cognition

An evaluation of a visual–visual successive matching‐to‐sample procedure to establish equivalence classes in adults

Go/no‐go procedure with compound stimuli with children with autism

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