I. Stewart et al., Generating derived relational networks via the abstraction of common physical properties: A possible model of analogical reasoning, PSYCHOL REC, 51(3), 2001, pp. 381-408
The aim of this study was to provide a demonstration of equivalence-equival
ence responding based on the abstraction of common formal properties, thus
extending the functional-analytic model of analogical reasoning shown by Ba
rnes, Hegarty, and Smeets (1997). In Experiment 1, 9 college students were
taught, using a delayed matching-to-sample procedure, to choose a particula
r nonsense syllable in the presence of each of four blue and four red geome
tric shapes. In a subsequent test, all 9 subjects demonstrated equivalence
formation based on the abstraction of color by consistently matching nonsen
se syllables related to same-colored shapes to each other. Of these 9 subje
cts, 8 then showed equivalence-equivalence responding in which equivalence
relations from the previous part of the experiment were related to other eq
uivalence relations and nonequivalence relations were related to other none
quivalence relations. In Experiment 2, 3 out of 4 additional subjects showe
d this analogical-type responding based on larger relational networks than
those established in Experiment 1, and in Experiment 3, 3 further subjects
showed analogical responding based on the abstraction of the relatively com
plex property of age.