Bryan Roche

A Transfer of Functions and a Conditional Transfer of Functions through Equivalence Relations in Three- to Six-Year-Old Children

Six children, aged between 3 years and 6 years were trained to form two, three member equivalence relations (A1-B1-C1 and A2-B2-C2). Clapping was then reinforced in the presence of B1, and waving was reinforced in the presence of B2. During testing, all children showed the predicted transfer of discriminative functions through equivalence to the C stimuli (i.e., C1 evoked clapping and C2 evoked waving). Three control subjects of similar ages, who were trained in the conditional discriminations and tested for equivalence using different arbitrary stimuli for C1 and C2, failed to show this transfer of functions. All nine children (six experimental and three control) were also exposed to conditional discriminative function training. That is, clapping was reinforced when B1 was presented in the presence of the spoken word “Yellow,” and waving was reinforced when B1 was presented in the presence of the spoken word “Blue.” In contrast, waving was reinforced when B2 was presented in the presence of the spoken word “Yellow,” and clapping was reinforced when B2 was presented in the presence of the spoken word “Blue.” During testing, the contextual stimuli were presented in visual form only. Two four-year-old children and one six-year-old child (experimental subjects) showed the predicted conditional transfer of control through equivalence relations to the C stimuli (Yellow/C1→cllapping, Blue/C1→waving, Yellow/ C2→waving, and Blue/C2→clapping), whereas the four- and six-year-old control subjects did not. The three-year-old subjects (both control and experimental) refused to complete the study.

Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding and Sexual Categorization: A Critical Test of the Derived Difference Relation

The major aim of the current study was to demonstrate that preexperimentally established verbal functions can be examined, and transferred to arbitrary stimuli, using the procedures adopted by relational frame theory. Ten subjects were first exposed to relational pretraining, similar to that employed by Steele and Hayes (1991), in order to establish the relational functions of SAME, OPPOSITE, and DIFFERENT in three arbitrary stimuli. Subjects were then trained in the following relations: SAME/S1- DOMINATE, DIFFERENT/S1-FORGET, OPPOSITE/S1-SUBMIT, SAME/S1-X1, DIFFERENT/S1-X2, and OPPOSITE/S1-X3. Testing involved presenting the subjects with PENIS or VAGINA as samples and X1, X2, X3, and a question mark as comparisons (subjects were instructed to choose the question mark if they felt that none of the other comparisons were correct). All subjects consistently chose X1 given PENIS in the presence of SAME but X3 in the presence of OPPOSITE. Similarly, they chose X3 given VAGINA in the presence of the SAME contextual cue, but chose X1 in the presence of OPPOSITE. Four of the ten subjects chose X2 in the presence of DIFFERENT, given either PENIS or VAGINA as a sample. The six remaining subjects chose the question mark on these tasks, thus indicating that the relation between X2 and PENIS was unspecified. Five of the subjects were exposed to an additional test in which AMNESIA was presented as a sample. In the presence of SAME, three subjects consistently chose the question mark, whereas two subjects consistently chose X2. In the presence of DIFFERENT, subjects consistently chose either X1 or X3. Finally, in the presence of OPPOSITE, subjects consistently chose the question mark. These data support a relational frame account of sexual categorization.

Fear Generalization in Humans: Systematic Review and Implications for Anxiety Disorder Research

Fear generalization, in which conditioned fear responses generalize or spread to related stimuli, is a defining feature of anxiety disorders. The behavioral consequences of maladaptive fear generalization are that aversive experiences with one stimulus or event may lead one to regard other cues or situations as potential threats that should be avoided, despite variations in physical form. Theoretical and empirical interest in the generalization of conditioned learning dates to the earliest research on classical conditioning in nonhumans. Recently, there has been renewed focus on fear generalization in humans due in part to its explanatory power in characterizing disorders of fear and anxiety. Here, we review existing behavioral and neuroimaging empirical research on the perceptual and non-perceptual (conceptual and symbolic) generalization of fear and avoidance in healthy humans and patients with anxiety disorders. The clinical implications of this research for understanding the etiology and treatment of anxiety is considered and directions for future research described.

Exemplar Training and a Derived Transformation of Function in Accordance with Symmetry

The main purpose of the present study was to determine whether exemplar training 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 objects by demonstrating listening, echoic, and tacting behaviors (e.g., hear name → point to object, hear name → say name, see object → say name, respectively). This name training served to establish that each of the subjects 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 toy car was reinforced, and when the experimenter clapped, choosing a doll was reinforced). Subjects were then reexposed to the name training, before exposure to a test for derived object-action symmetry relations (e.g., experimenter presents toy car → child. waves and experimenter presents doll → child claps). Across subsequent sessions, a multiple-baseline design was used to introduce exemplar training (i.e., explicit symmetry training) for those subjects who failed the symmetry test. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1, except that the name retraining (between the conditional discrimination training and symmetry test) was removed. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 1, except that subjects were trained to tact all of the actions and objects during conditional discrimination training and symmetry testing. Experiment 4 replicated Experiment 1, except that the trained and tested relations were reversed (i.e., train object-action, test action-object relations). Across the four experiments, 13 out of 16 subjects failed to show derived objectaction (Experiments 1-3) or action-object (Experiment 4) symmetry until they received explicit symmetry training. Overall, the data are consistent with Relational Frame Theory.

Derived relational networks and control by novel instructions: A possible model of generative verbal responding

Relational Frame Theory proposes that control by novel instructions may be understood as control by networks of Same and Before or After relations. The current paper reports two experiments in which such control was demonstrated. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students were first trained to respond in accordance with Before and After relations and then trained to respond in accordance with Same and Different relations. Subjects were then presented with a number of ‘instructions’ in the form of networks of Same, Different, Before, and After relations in the absence of reinforcement. Of the 3 students, 2 demonstrated the required performance within two exposures to the final phase of the experiment. In Experiment 2, 5 of 8 additional subjects who demonstrated instructional control also did so in the presence of 24 novel stimulus sets without further training. The implications of these novel and generative performances for the analysis of instructional control and human language more generally are considered.

A contemporary behavior analysis of anxiety and avoidance.

Despite the central status of avoidance in explaining the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders, surprisingly little behavioral research has been conducted on human avoidance. In the present paper, first we provide a brief review of the empirical literature on avoidance. Next, we describe the implications of research on derived relational responding and the transformation of functions for a contemporary behavioral account of avoidance, before providing several illustrative research examples of laboratory-based analogues of key clinical treatment processes. Finally, we suggest some challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for behavioral research on anxiety and avoidance.

Response latencies to multiple derived stimulus relations: Testing two predictions of relational frame theory

In Experiment 1, 3 college students were exposed to relational pretraining to establish the contextual functions of Same, Opposite, More Than, and Less Than in four arbitrary stimuli. Subjects were then trained on the matching-to-sample tasks A 1-81 and Y1-N1, in the presence of the More-Than contextual cue, A 1-82 and Y1-N2 in the presence of the Less-Than contextual cue, C1-D1 and E1 -D2 in the presence of the Same cue, and C1-D2 and E1-D1 in the presence of the Opposite cue. Test trials were subsequently administered to probe for the mutually entailed relations; Less-Than/81-A 1, Less-ThanlN1-Y1, More-Than/82-A1, More-Than/N2-Y1, Same/D1-C1, Same/D2-E1, Opposite/D2-C1, and Opposite/D1-E1. Response latencies to probes for derived Same/Opposite relations were significantly lower than those for derived More ThaniLess Than relations. Experiment 2 exposed 4 subjects to training across each of the four relations and used a novel stimulus set to test for reduced response latencies to the derived relations. Response latencies to More-ThaniLess-Than probes reduced significantly across the original to the novel stimulus set, whereas latencies to Same/Opposite probes were low across both stimulus sets.

A functional-analytic model of analogy using the Relational Evaluation Procedure

Analogical reasoning is conceptualized by Relational Frame Theory as responding in accordance with an equivalence relation between equivalence or other types of derived stimulus relations. The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical demonstration of analogy using the Relational Evaluation Procedure (REP), a recently developed technique for the rapid training and testing of derived stimulus relations. The experiment involved 9 stages in which 5 adult male subjects were exposed to a complex series of REP training and testing protocols, by the end of which they each readily demonstrated 24 completely novel instances of responding in accordance with analogical relations as conceptualized by RFT. The implications of these results for future functional analytic investigations of analogical reasoning are discussed.

A RELATIONAL FRAME TRAININg INTERVENTION TO RAISE INTELLIgENCE QuOTIENTS: A PILOT STuDy

The current research consisted of 2 studies designed to test the effectiveness of automated multiple-exemplar relational training in raising children’s general intellectual skills. In Study 1, 4 participants were exposed to multiple exemplar training in stimulus equivalence and the relational frames of SAME, OPPOSITE, MORE THAN, and LESS THAN across several sessions and weeks. WISC (III-UK) measures were taken at baseline, following stimulus equivalence training, and again following relational frame training. Matched against a no-treatment control group, experimental participants showed significant improvements in full-scale IQ following stimulus equivalence training, and a further significant rise following relational frame training. Study 2 administered an improved multiple-exemplar-based relational frame training intervention to 8 children with a range of educational and behavioral difficulties. In 7 of the 8 cases, full-scale IQ as measured by the WISC (IV-UK) rose by at least 1 SD; the improvement was statistically significant at the group level. These data have important implications for the behavioral analysis of intellectual skills and suggest the basis of an intervention to improve general cognitive functioning.

GENERATING DERIVED RELATIONAL NETWORKS VIA THE ABSTRACTION OF COMMON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES: A POSSIBLE MODEL OF ANALOGICAL REASONING

The aim of this study was to provide a demonstration of equivalence-equivalence responding based on the abstraction of common formal properties, thus extending the functional-analytic model of analogical reasoning shown by Barnes, Hegarty, and Smeets (1997), In Experiment 1, 9 college students were taught, using a delayed matching-to-sample procedure, to choose a particular nonsense syllable in the presence of each of four blue and four red geometric shapes. In a subsequent test, all 9 subjects demonstrated equivalence formation based on the abstraction of color by consistently matching nonsense syllables related to same-colored shapes to each other. Of these 9 subjects, 8 then showed equivalence-equivalence responding in which equivalence relations from the previous part of the experiment were related to other equivalence relations and nonequivalence relations were related to other nonequivalence relations. In Experiment 2, 3 out of 4 additional subjects showed 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 complex property of age.