Exemplar training and a derived transformation of function in accordance with symmetry

The main purpose of the present study was to determine whether exemplar tra ining would readily facilitate the transformation of function in accordance with symmetry. Sixteen children, aged between 4 and 5 years, were employed across four experiments (i.e., 4 children each in Experiments 1 to 4). In Experiment 1, subjects were first trained to name two actions and two objec ts by demonstrating listening, echoic, and tacting behaviors (e.g., hear na me --> point to object, hear name --> say name, see object --> say name, re spectively). This name training served to establish that each of the subjec ts could clearly discriminate the experimental stimuli. Subjects were then trained in an action-object conditional discrimination using the previously named actions and objects (e.g., when the experimenter waved, choosing a t oy car was reinforced, and when the experimenter clapped, choosing a doll w as reinforced). Subjects were then reexposed to the name training, before e xposure to a test for derived object-action symmetry relations (e.g., exper imenter presents toy car --> child waves and experimenter presents doll --> child claps). Across subsequent sessions, a multiple-baseline design was u sed to introduce exemplar training (i.e., explicit symmetry training) for t hose subjects who failed the symmetry test. Experiment 2 replicated Experim ent 1, except that the name retraining (between the conditional discriminat ion training and symmetry test) was removed. Experiment 3 replicated Experi ment 1, except that subjects were trained to tact all of the actions and ob jects during conditional discrimination training and symmetry testing. Expe riment 4 replicated Experiment 1, except that the trained and tested relati ons were reversed (i.e., train object-action, test action-object relations) . Across the four experiments, 13 out of 16 subjects failed to show derived object-action (Experiments 1-3) or action-object (Experiment 4) symmetry u ntil they received explicit symmetry training. Overall, the data are consis tent with Relational frame Theory.