Andrés García

Equivalence-Equivalence Responding: Training Conditions Involved in Obtaining a Stable Baseline Performance

Recent research has focused on the variables associated with equivalence-equivalence responding, in which participants match pairs of equivalent or nonequiv-alent stimuli. One such variable is the presence of response competition from nonarbitrary (physical) relational response options. In the current analysis, the experimenters examined the effect of training conditions on the likelihood of equivalence-equivalence responding in the presence of these competing response options. The conditional discrimination training conditions prompting equivalence relations were systematically manipulated across five experiments. The study included the variable reflexivity training, an equivalence test, the type of stimuli used, and the number of training trials. Results revealed that the manipulations gradually increased the percentage of participants responding in accordance with equivalence-equivalence. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Efecto de la edad y el tipo de reforzador en la equivalencia-equivalencia mediante un procedimiento de partición

Equivalence – Equivalence responding (Barnes et al., 1997), based on derived or non-explicitly trained relational responding, supports a behaviour-analytic model of analogical reasoning. Conditional discriminations are the most common procedure used to train its prerequisites. In this exploratory work we test Vaughan’s (1988) simple discrimination procedure instead to derive Eq-Eq responses in children. Two factors were assessed: type of reinforcer used (primary or secondary) and age of participants (9-10 or 12-13 years). The procedure successfully leaded to the derivation of equivalence – equivalence responses, and both factors influenced the results: selecting older children and applying primary reinforcement leaded to faster learning and better results in the equivalence – equivalence test. No interaction between factors was found. This training procedure can provide a new way to investigate the behavioural prerequisites of this important ability

The influence of the parents' educational level and participants' age in the derivation of equivalence-equivalence.

BACKGROUND The objective of this work was the study of analogical reasoning from the perspective of the equivalence-equivalence phenomenon. METHOD The variables studied consisted of the age of the participants and the educational level of the parents, in relation to performance on a reasoning task. The task utilized a sample size of 64 participants and an instrument based on conditional discriminations using the matching-to-sample procedure. RESULTS The results showed a significant difference in the performance on the task between the children of parents with college degrees, and those of parents without college degrees. However, there were no conclusive results as to age. CONCLUSIONS The results are analyzed from the perspective of the derivation of the relationship of equivalence-equivalence via multiple exemplar training.

Failure to find symmetry in pigeons after multiple exemplar training

BACKGROUND An experiment with pigeons was conducted for 46 months in order to test the multiple-exemplar training (MET) hypothesis of symmetry derivation. According to this hypothesis, symmetry is progressively derived after an extensive training of multiple examples of direct and inverse relations among arbitrary stimuli. METHOD Four pigeons were given extensive training in direct (e.g., A1-B1; A2-B2) and inverse (e.g., B1-A1; B2-A2) arbitrary conditional discriminations. Once pigeons learned a complete reversal (e.g., AB and BA), a new reversal with different stimuli was trained (e.g., CD and DC, etc.). Subjects were assigned to two different stimulus sets, and sample-comparison order was counterbalanced. RESULTS Pigeons learned between 4 and 24 conditional discriminations, but none showed evidence of symmetry. Discriminability of samples and comparisons was identified as an important factor because it affected direct and inverse discriminations differently. CONCLUSIONS Despite the negative results reported, this study provides some insights that might help to improve current research on MET and symmetry: We describe some lessons learned about the design of long-term experiments involving a high number of stimuli and finally, we discuss some control strategies for stimulus discriminability that might also contribute to facilitate symmetry derivation in pigeons.

Facilitation of equivalence – equivalence responding: generalization of relational responses

Equivalence-equivalence responding (Eq-Eq) has become a behaviour analytic model of analogical reasoning. In previous works it was demonstrated that the exposition to a non-arbitrary relational task (facilitation procedure) improves performance in Eq-Eq tasks. In the present work we attempted to analyze the role of task components: arbitrary or non-arbitrary relational responses, role as sample or comparisons, and relating relations. In the first experiment, we devised four facilitation procedures combining two dimensions: simple or compound sample or comparisons and arbitrary or non-arbitrary relations among compound stimuli. In the second experiment two facilitation procedures including compound stimuli were tested. In one condition arbitrary relations worked as sample, and non-arbitrary relations as comparison. In the other condition its function was reversed. All procedures were effective to improve Eq-Eq to different extents, being arbitrary relational responses the key element. These results show generalization between non-arbitrary and arbitrary responses, and add further support to Eq-Eq responding as operant behaviour.

Contextual control of conditional discrimination of the own behavior in pigeons

An experiment in which a pigeon was trained in contextual discrimination of its own behavior was carried out. When the experimental chamber was illuminated with a constant light, the pigeon had to peck on a red (or green) key in the sample component after having been pecking to the left (or to the right). When the chamber was illuminated with an intermittent light, the reinforced sample-comparison sequences were the opposite. The subject learned the task in about 40 sessions and maintained high correct response ratios even though the reinforcement probability decreased from 1 to 0.2 after each correct trial. The results are discussed in terms of the kind of discriminative rule and the kind of hierarchic structure involved in the task.

ANÁLISIS FUNCIONAL DE LAS ESTRATEGIAS PSICOLÓGICAS DE TERROR EN EL CINE

Resumen Encontrar la mejor fórmula para provocar miedo es y será el objetivo de generaciones de directores interesados en este género, y es muy común que en algún momento de esta búsqueda dirijan su mirada a la psicología. Esta colaboración se ha centrado principalmente en descubrir los “miedos internos”, las frustraciones, los símbolos del inconsciente capaces de aterrorizarnos, etc. Evidentemente, ha sido el psicoanálisis el que más ha interesado a directores y productores deseosos de descubrir miedos ocultos. En este artículo pretendemos ofrecer una visión radicalmente apartada de este tipo de contribuciones, aportando algunas herramientas, derivadas del Análisis Experimental del Comportamiento, que pueden resultar útiles para identificar tanto los elementos que provocan la reacción emocional conocida como “miedo”, como los posibles factores motivacionales que explican el hecho de que nos expongamos a este tipo de situaciones‥

Competition among Stimulus–Stimulus Relations in an Intelligence-Test Format

A behavior analytic model of analogical reasoning has been developed over the past two decades. Applying this model, we analyzed 12 visual analogies of the Test Of Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI-2) and predicted competition between stimulus-stimulus relations based on the number of nonarbitrary relations shared between the sample and the comparisons. Thirty-three adult participants solved the selected items while their eye movements were monitored using an eye-tracking device. For every item, a repeated measures ANOVA showed that observation duration was significantly higher in the response alternatives that shared more nonarbitrary relations with the sample (p < 0.001). The correct comparison was observed for a longer period of time, followed by the higher rank distractors, and then the rest. The effect size ranged from 0.293 to 0.764. The systematic application of the behavior analytic model of analogical reasoning allowed us to predict the behavior of participants taking an intelligence test based on visual analogies, at least to some extent. This work extends the application of the behavior analytic model of analogical reasoning to a rather complex situation (i.e., a published intelligence test).

Comparación de métodos de corrección de errores en la adquisición de discriminaciones condicionales

El objetivo del estudio fue comparar diferentes metodos de correccion de errores en una tarea de discriminacion condicional, en participantes de diferentes grupos de edad (7-8, 10-11, 15-16 y 19-20 anos), para determinar el tipo de correccion mas eficaz en el aprendizaje. Se diseno un experimento en el que se uso una tarea de igualacion a la muestra de primer orden.En la tarea, cuatro letras latinas, funcionaron como estimulo muestra, y cuatro simbolos chinos funcionaron como estimulos de comparacion.En caso de error en la respuesta de los participantes, se utilizo uno de los tipos de correccion contemplados en esta investigacion: castigo positivo, seguimiento de regla, correccion llevada a la muestra y correccion llevada a las comparaciones. Ademas, se conto con un grupo control, que no recibio ninguna correccion ante los errores.Se contabilizo el numero de ensayos necesarios para aprender la tarea.Los resultados mostraron diferencias entre los grupos que recibieron correccion con respecto al que no, siendo la ejecucion peor en este ultimo. Ademas, se encontro que la correccion con castigo positivo ralentizo el aprendizaje de la tarea. Los resultados resaltan la importancia del uso de correccion diferente del castigo positivo en las tareas de discriminacion condicional.