The Transfer of Specific and General Consequential Functions Through Simple and Conditional Equivalence Relations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the transfer of consequential (reinforcement and punishment) functions through equivalence relations. In Experiment 1, 9 subjects acquired three three-member equivalence classes through matching-to-sample training using arbitrary visual forms. Comparison stimuli were then given conditioned reinforcement or punishment functions by pairing them with verbal feedback during a sorting task. For 8 of the 9 subjects, trained consequential functions transferred through their respective equivalence classes without additional training. In Experiment 2, transfer of function was initially tested before equivalence testing per se. Three of 4 subjects showed the transfer without a formal equivalence test. In Experiment 3, 3 subjects were given training that gave rise to six new three-member conditional equivalence classes. For 2 of the subjects, the same stimulus could have either a reinforcement or punishment function on the basis of contextual cues that defined its class membership. Experiment 4 assessed whether equivalence training had established general or specific consequential functions primarily by adding novel stimuli in the transfer test. Subjects treated even novel feedback stimuli in the transfer test as consequences, but the direction of consequential effects depended upon the transfer of specific consequential functions through equivalence relations.

In search of meaning: Values in modern clinical behavior analysis

“…For example, the realization that ''I love my job'' may, at least temporarily, make job-relevant activity even more reinforcing than before. There is now established empirical support for both these forms of augmental rule following (Hayes, Kohlenberg, & Hayes, 1991;Ju & Hayes, 2008;Whelan & Barnes-Holmes, 2004). Leigland (2005) suggests that in the case of augmental rule following, ''reinforcement may be a derived function established through participation in a network of relations among arbitrary stimuli' ' (p. 137).…”

Prejudice, terrorism, and behavior therapy

“…The core of human language is the ability to derive relations among events based on arbitrary cues rather than formal properties of the related events, a position known as Relational Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and Roche, 2001). For example, a normal human adult who arbitrarily learns that x goes with y, also now knows without explicit training that y goes with x.…”

Topography of Responses in Conditional Discrimination Influences Formation of Equivalence Classes

“…A stimulus function acquired by a class member transfers to the other class members in the absence of direct training (e.g., Boelens & Smeets, 1990;de rose, Mcilvane, Dube, Galpin, & Stoddard, 1988a;Dougher, Augustson, Markham, Greenway, & Wulfert, 1994;Hayes, Kohlenberg, & Hayes, 1991). Studies showed that transfer decreases with the number of nodes between the stimulus tested and the stimulus that directly acquired a particular function (Fields et al, 1993;Fields, landonJimenez, Buffington, and Adams, 1995).…”