A transfer of self-discrimination response functions through equivalence relations.
Self-discrimination can hitchhike across new stimuli once they share an equivalence class with the original self-cue.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers taught four adults to tell the difference between their own responses and other stimuli. They then built equivalence classes that linked the self-cue to new, untrained items. Finally, they checked if the self-discrimination skill jumped to those new items without direct teaching.
A second group got the same lessons but no equivalence links. This crew served as the control.
What they found
Every person in the equivalence group showed the transfer. Once the self-cue was part of a class, any other item in that class automatically gained the self-discrimination function. The control group showed zero transfer, proving the effect came from the equivalence relations, not just practice.
How this fits with other research
Fingeret et al. (1985) saw the opposite pattern: treating one spider phobia did nothing for untreated snake or height phobias. Their fear responses stayed locked to the trained domain. The new study flips that outcome—self-discrimination leaped across stimuli via shared equivalence classes.
Ayvazo et al. (2024) used public self-monitoring to boost teen cyclists’ training. Both papers land in the self-management corner of ABA, but Takashima et al. (1994) reveal a silent, emergent route while Ayvazo shows an overt, coach-driven one. You now have two levers: build equivalence classes or post the scoreboard.
Walter et al. (2023) warns that low-effort responses spring back after extinction. If you use equivalence to install self-awareness, keep the response easy to emit or it may resurge later.
Why it matters
You can teach a client to recognize “my choice” with one set of pictures, then expand the concept to new photos, words, or emojis through equivalence classes. No extra trials, no nagging. The skill travels on its own, saving you time and giving the learner a bigger self-monitoring toolkit across settings.
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Join Free →After a client masters “my turn” cards, add two new pictures to the same equivalence class and test if they still label them correctly without prompting.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study tested the idea that human self-discrimination response functions may transfer through equivalence relations. Four subjects were trained in six symbolic matching-to-sample tasks (if see A1, choose B1; A1-C1, A2-B2, A2-C2, A3-B3, A3-C3) and were then tested for the formation of three equivalence relations (B1-C1, B2-C2, B3-C3). Two of the B stimuli (B1 and B2) were then used to train two different self-discrimination responses using either detailed instructions (Subjects 1 to 3) or minimal instructions (Subject 4) on two complex schedules of reinforcement (i.e., subjects were trained to pick the B1 stimulus if they had not emitted a response, and to pick the B2 stimulus if they had emitted one or more responses on the previous schedule). All 4 subjects showed the predicted transfer of self-discrimination response functions through equivalence relations (i.e., no response on the schedule, pick C1; one or more responses on the schedule, pick C2). Subjects also demonstrated this transfer when they were required to discriminate their schedule performance before exposure to the schedule (i.e., "what I intend to do"). Four control subjects were also used in the study. Two of these (Subjects 5 and 6) were not exposed to any form of matching-to-sample training and testing (nonequivalence controls). The 2 remaining subjects (7 and 8) were exposed to matching-to-sample training and testing that incorporated stimuli not used during the transfer test; C1 and C2 were replaced by N1 and N2 during the matching-to-sample training and testing, but C1 and C2 were used for the transfer tests (equivalence controls). All 4 subjects failed to produce the self-discrimination transfer performances observed with the experimental subjects.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1994 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1994.62-251