BLANK-COMPARISON ASSESSMENT OF STIMULUS-STIMULUS RELATIONS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL-RETARDATION - A METHODOLOGICAL NOTE

Matching to sample is commonly used in research and practice to assess relational learning of persons with mental retardation. However, forc ed-choice matching tasks are not always appropriate. In this paper we have illustrated blank-comparison matching to sample, a selection-base d ''yes/no'' method requiring no verbal skills. Participants select a comparison stimulus if it is judged to be related to the sample (analo gous to ''yes'') but select a black square (blank) if it is not so jud ged (''no''). In the first experiment the method was used to explore b ases for emergent symbolic ''mapping'' performances. In the second exp eriment we assessed similarity judgments between form stimuli. Both ex periments confirmed the feasibility and utility of the method for maki ng unambiguous inferences as to whether pairs of stimuli were or were not related.