UNTRAINED TEMPORAL DIFFERENTIATION AND EQUIVALENCE CLASS FORMATION

The purposes of this study were to assess whether discriminative contr ol over conjunc FR 5 t(1) < IRT < t(2) responding would transfer to me mbers of stimulus equivalence classes; whether a formal test for equiv alence would be necessary for such transfer to occur; and to compare t he effectiveness of derived discriminative control through symmetry, v ersus equivalence relations. In Experiment 1, 2 out of 6 subjects demo nstrated the reliable transfer of stimulus functions prior to the test for equivalence; in Experiment 2, none of 5 subjects demonstrated the reliable transfer of stimulus functions prior to the test for equival ence, but 2 did so following the test for equivalence; and in Experime nt 3, all 4 subjects demonstrated the reliable transfer of stimulus fu nctions prior to the test for equivalence. No differences were observe d between the derived control exerted by stimuli that had entered into symmetry relations with training stimuli, versus those that had enter ed into equivalence relations with training stimuli. It was concluded that behavior can appear to be temporally differentiated in the absenc e of direct conditioning.