Establishing equivalence relations using a respondent-type training procedure III

In this study, 12 5-year-old normal functioning children were exposed to a respondent-type training procedure and tested for emergent conditional disc riminations. During respondent-type training, arbitrary stimuli were presen ted in pairs, one at a time, using a table-top procedure. On a given trial, for example, the arbitrary stimulus Al was presented on an observation car d for 1 s, followed by the arbitrary stimulus B1 presented on another obser vation card for 1 s (represented as A1-->B1). Emergent conditional discrimi nations were tested using a standard matching-to-sample procedure. On one t est trial, for example, B1 was presented as a sample, with Al and A2 as com parisons. Choosing Al (rather than A2) was defined as the correct choice (r epresented as BI-AI), based on the previous respondent-type training (A1--> B1). In Experiment 1 (linear condition), subjects were trained and tested i n the following sequence: train A1-->B1, A2-->B2, test B1-A1, B2-A2; train B1-->C1, B2-->C2, test C1-B1, C2-B2, C1-A1, C2-A2; train C1-->D1, C2-->D2, test D1-B1, D2-B2, DI-AI, D2-A2. In Experiment 2 tone-to-many condition), s ubjects were trained and tested in the following sequence: train B1-->A1, B 2-->A2, test A1-B1, A2-B2; train B1-->C1, B2-->C2, test C1-B1, C2-B2, C1-A1 , C2-A2; train B1-->D1, B2-->D2, test D1-C1, D2-C2, D1-A1, D2-A2. In Experi ment 3 (many-to-one condition), subjects were trained and tested in the fol lowing sequence: train A1-->B1, A2-->B2, test B1-A1, B2-A2; train C1-->B1, C2-->B2, test B1-C1, B2-C2, C1-A1, C2-A2; train D1-->B1, D2-->B2, test D1-C 1, D2-C2, D1-A1, D2-A2. The study demonstrated that respondent-type trainin g is an effective means of generating equivalence classes with young childr en. Results also showed that it is possible to extend an equivalence class using the respondent procedure without testing for the "mediating" symmetry relations. The training protocols (linear, one-to-many, and many-to-one) w ere found to be equally effective, although a possible ceiling effect needs to be taken into account.