ARE ARBITRARY CONSEQUENCES IN IDENTITY MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE PROCEDURE EFFECTIVE FOR ESTABLISHING EQUIVALENCE CLASSES?

Abstract

Two experiments verified whether abstract stimuli used as specific outcomes in an identity matching-to-sample procedure would foster the formation of equivalence classes comprised of the antecedent stimuli and the specific consequences. In Experiment I, five participants acquired identity matching relations (AA, BB, and CC) with three distinct class-specific outcomes (rf1, rf2, and rf3). However, they underperformed on trials that tested for the emergence of AB, AC, BA, CA, BC e CB equivalence relations. These failures may have been due to the deterioration of the relations between antecedent stimuli and the specific consequences, induced by the extinction procedure in training trials, prior to the testing block. For this reason, Experiment 2 implemented two manipulations: 1) the training trials with extinction prior to tests were removed; and 2) an overtraining of the identity relations with the specific consequences was conducted prior to the testing block. Two participants acquired the baseline relations and were exposed to the overtraining procedure. However, their performances on testing did not indicate the formation of equivalence relations. The negative results in both experiments seem to be related to the lack of reinforcing properties of the arbitrary stimuli used as specific consequences.Keywords: stimulus equivalence, specific consequences, negative results, undergraduates.