The Role of Instructions in the Transfer of Ordinal Functions Through Equivalence Classes

Abstract

In two experiments, adult subjects completed match-to-sample training and testing to establish four equivalence classes of four figures each. Then the subjects were taught one three-position sequence consisting of one stimulus from Class 1, one from Class 2, and one from Class 3. Inclusion of Class 4 stimuli in sequences was never reinforced, but two different stimuli from Class 4 appeared as distractors on each sequence trial. Tests assessed whether subjects would produce novel three-position sequences composed of members of Classes 1 through 3 that had not been used in sequence training. Three subjects in Experiment 1 received instructions about the match-to-sample and sequencing tasks, in addition to training contingencies. All 3 demonstrated equivalence class formation after match-tosample training. After they were taught one sequence with one member of Classes 1 through 3, none of these subjects produced untrained sequences with other equivalence class members reliably. One additional sequence was trained directly; thereafter 1 subject showed some evidence of transfer of the trained ordinal functions across the remaining members of the equivalence dasscs, but the other 2 did not. Following a review of equivalence class training and testing and a review of the original sequence training, all 3 subjects produced most of the predicted, untrained sequences on tests. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with 2 adults but omitted all instructions except the minimal ones necessary to initiate responding. Unlike the subjects in Experiment 1, both of these subjects demonstrated virtually complete transfer of ordinal functions through the equivalence classes after direct training on just one sequence composed of one member of Classes 1 through 3.

The Transfer of Respondent Eliciting and Extinction Functions Through Stimulus Equivalence Classes

“…In short, transfer of function refers to the acquisition of stimulus function by virtue of membership in an equivalence class (Dougher & Markham, 1994;Hayes, 1991;Hayes & Hayes, 1989;Sidman & Tailby, 1982 There is a growing body of empirical support for the transfer of stimulus function through equivalence classes. For example, the transfer of discriminative functions has been reported by Green, Sigurdardottir, and Saunders (1991), Lazar (1977), Lazar and Kotlarchyk (1986), and Wulfert and Hayes (1988). Gatch and Osborne (1989), Kohlenberg, Hayes, and Hayes (1991), and Lynch and Green (1991) have demonstrated the transfer of contextual control, and Hayes, Kohlenberg, and Hayes (1991) have shown conditioned reinforcement and punishment functions to transfer through equivalence classes.…”

Emergência de Relações Numéricas em Pré-Escolares

“…A produtividade do modo de investigação do responder ordinal aqui utilizado fornece uma abordagem empírica na medida em que subsidia o desenvolvimento e aplicação de tecnologias de ensino não somente da matemática, mas também de comportamentos complexos cuja ordem é a variável relevante como os gramaticais, de leitura e escrita e outros "simbóli-cos sequenciais", como sequência alfabética, espectro de cores, dias da semana e calendário com os meses do ano (por exemplo, Assis, Élleres, & Sampaio, 2006;Green, 1991;Resende, Elias, & Goyos, 2012;Ribeiro, Assis, & Enumo, 2005;Sella & Bandini, 2012;Skinner, 1957Skinner, /1957.…”

The Dimensions of Clinical Behavior Analysis

“…One line ofthought is that verbal stimuli acquire their function by their participation in equivalence classes (S. Hayes & L. Hayes, 1992;Sidman, Wynne, Maguire, & Barnes, 1989). In particular, laboratory research has demonstrated that once stimuli enter into equivalence classes, they automatically acquire the functions of the other members of the class (e.g., Gatch & Osborne, 1989;Green, Sigurdardottir, & Saunders, 1991;Lazar, 1977;Lazar & Kotlarchyk, 1986;Wulfert & S. Hayes, 1988). In this way, verbal stimuli become equivalent to the stimuli or events for which they stand and influence behavior accordingly.…”