Reorganization of equivalence classes: effects of preliminary training and meaningful stimuli
A brief delayed identity-matching warm-up helps adult learners form and later reorganize equivalence classes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked adults to learn new equivalence classes. First, each person got a warm-up. Some did quick identity matching with a short delay. Others got no warm-up.
After that, everyone learned a fresh four-member class. Later the class had to change: two members swapped places. The researchers counted how fast each group built the first class and then switched to the new one.
What they found
The delay warm-up group learned the first class faster. They also switched to the new class with fewer errors.
Adding a tiny pause before each match made later learning and re-learning smoother.
How this fits with other research
Arntzen et al. (2018) ran a near-copy study the same year. They added meaningful pictures and still saw the delay boost. That paper gave hard numbers: 75% of adults formed classes with pictures plus delay versus only 17% with shapes alone.
McPheters et al. (2021) seems to clash. They tried a different kind of warm-up—giving stimuli a past class history—and got poor results. The lesson: not all warm-ups help; delays work, prior class membership does not.
McConkey et al. (1999) stretched the question downward. Preschool kids could also reorganize classes, so the delay trick may work across ages.
Why it matters
If you run equivalence-based instruction with teens or adults, start with a short identity-matching game that uses a three-second delay. It primes the learner’s brain for both building and later changing classes. One quick prep session can save many teaching trials down the road.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In Condition 1, adults learned the baseline relations for the three equivalence classes A1-B1-C1-D1-E1, A2-B2-C2-D2-E2, and A3-B3-C3-D3-E3. Classes contained abstract shapes in the ABS and four preliminary training groups. Each class in the PIC group contained one picture and four abstract shapes. Before class formation for four other groups, preliminary training involved establishing identity (CC) or arbitrary (CX) relations either with or without a delay. Without preliminary training, classes formed with low and high likelihoods in the ABS and PIC groups, respectively. Preliminary training with no delay produced modest increases in class formation, while preliminary training with delay produced large increases in class formation. Condition 2 replicated Condition 1 but with training of reassigned BC and CD relations that linked C from one class to B and D from another class: B1-C2, B2-C3, B3-C1, C2-D1, C3-D2, and C1-D3. Subsequent tests assessed the emergence of the reorganized classes A1-B1-C2-D1-E1, A2-B2-C3-D2-E2, and A3-B3-C1-D3-E3. All preliminary training procedures increased likelihood of forming the reorganized classes to the level seen in the PIC group. Greater gains were produced by preliminary training with no delays than with delays. Test performances also showed how preliminary training influenced baseline acquisition speed and participant-defined relations.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2018 · doi:10.1002/jeab.329