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Equivalence relations between visual stimuli: the functional role of naming

Equivalence relations between visual stimuli: the functional role of naming
Equivalence relations between visual stimuli: the functional role of naming
The functionality of verbal behavior in equivalence class formation was demonstrated by training 30 verbally able adults using different combinations of the same easily nameable, yet formally unrelated, pictorial stimuli. Match-to-sample baselines for four four-member classes were established sequentially (i.e., AB-BC-CD), with participants in the rhyme condition trained to select comparisons whose normative names rhymed with those of the samples. For the orthogonal condition, class rearrangement was such that on every trial all available comparisons' names rhymed with each other, but not with the name of the sample. In the diagonal condition, stimuli were allocated pseudorandomly as samples and comparisons. Although all participants maintained baseline discriminations prior to emergent testing, equivalence was confined almost exclusively to the rhyme condition, in which it was ubiquitous. These participants also required less training than those in the control conditions, among whom effects of nodal distance were observed most strongly. Subsequent testing presented participants with no-reinforcement trials involving novel pictorial stimuli, in which one of the available comparisons' names always rhymed with that of the sample. All rhyme participants consistently selected these comparisons. Results indicate that visual stimuli are named, that the phonological properties of those names can influence equivalence class formation, and that the emergence of untrained discriminations may, under certain circumstances, be rule governed.
stimulus equivalence, naming, generalization, nodal distance, match to sample, adult humans
395-415
Randell, T.
229fcc1b-8a4d-4ecc-98b5-1004f95a0665
Remington, B.
87f75b79-4207-4b3a-8ad0-a8e4b26c010f
Randell, T.
229fcc1b-8a4d-4ecc-98b5-1004f95a0665
Remington, B.
87f75b79-4207-4b3a-8ad0-a8e4b26c010f

Randell, T. and Remington, B. (1999) Equivalence relations between visual stimuli: the functional role of naming. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 71, 395-415.

Record type: Article

Abstract

The functionality of verbal behavior in equivalence class formation was demonstrated by training 30 verbally able adults using different combinations of the same easily nameable, yet formally unrelated, pictorial stimuli. Match-to-sample baselines for four four-member classes were established sequentially (i.e., AB-BC-CD), with participants in the rhyme condition trained to select comparisons whose normative names rhymed with those of the samples. For the orthogonal condition, class rearrangement was such that on every trial all available comparisons' names rhymed with each other, but not with the name of the sample. In the diagonal condition, stimuli were allocated pseudorandomly as samples and comparisons. Although all participants maintained baseline discriminations prior to emergent testing, equivalence was confined almost exclusively to the rhyme condition, in which it was ubiquitous. These participants also required less training than those in the control conditions, among whom effects of nodal distance were observed most strongly. Subsequent testing presented participants with no-reinforcement trials involving novel pictorial stimuli, in which one of the available comparisons' names always rhymed with that of the sample. All rhyme participants consistently selected these comparisons. Results indicate that visual stimuli are named, that the phonological properties of those names can influence equivalence class formation, and that the emergence of untrained discriminations may, under certain circumstances, be rule governed.

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More information

Published date: 1999
Keywords: stimulus equivalence, naming, generalization, nodal distance, match to sample, adult humans

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 18536
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/18536
PURE UUID: 663eebf4-f684-4929-b626-b324eec1d72d

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Date deposited: 09 Dec 2005
Last modified: 07 Jan 2022 22:01

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