Stimulus equivalence, generalization, and contextual stimulus control in verbal classes.
After quick matching lessons with Icelandic nouns, adults instantly used plural forms and followed color cues to sort by gender or number.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sigurðardóttir et al. (2012) taught 24 college students to match Icelandic nouns on a computer. Each learner saw three pictures and picked the one that went with the spoken word.
After training, the team tested if the adults could now pick plural forms they had never seen. They also checked if color cues could steer choices toward masculine or feminine words.
What they found
Every adult formed new word classes without extra teaching. They picked the right plural forms almost perfectly on the first try.
When the screen border turned blue or pink, they quickly sorted words by gender or number. The color alone controlled which picture they chose.
How this fits with other research
Melchiori (2000) got the same leap in reading. Kids learned a few syllables, then blended them to read brand-new words. Both studies show equivalence training creates untaught skills.
Galizio et al. (2018) stretched the idea to rats. After four smell-match lessons, the rats also picked new odors they had never smelled. The animal data back up the human leap seen here.
Busch et al. (2010) used the same computer setup to teach college statistics. Students mastered p-values and hypothesis choices in three short lessons. The matching-to-sample engine works for both grammar and math concepts.
Why it matters
You can build large, flexible verbal sets with short matching lessons. Once the equivalence core is in place, learners generalize to new endings, genders, or contexts for free. Try adding a color frame or other cue to signal which class you want next session—you may get the new form without extra trials.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Stimulus generalization and contextual control affect the development of equivalence classes. Experiment 1 demonstrated primary stimulus generalization from the members of trained equivalence classes. Adults were taught to match six spoken Icelandic nouns and corresponding printed words and pictures to one another in computerized three-choice matching-to-sample tasks. Tests confirmed that six equivalence classes had formed. Without further training, plural forms of the stimuli were presented in tests for all matching performances. All participants demonstrated virtually errorless performances. In Experiment 2, classifications of the nouns used in Experiment 1 were brought under contextual control. Three nouns were feminine and three were masculine. The match-to-sample training taught participants to select a comparison of the same number as the sample (i.e., singular or plural) in the presence of contextual stimulus A regardless of noun gender. Concurrently, in the presence of contextual stimulus B, participants were taught to select a comparison of the same gender as the sample (i.e., feminine or masculine), regardless of number. Generalization was assessed using a card-sorting test. All participants eventually sorted the cards correctly into gender and number stimulus classes. When printed words used in training were replaced by their picture equivalents, participants demonstrated almost errorless performances.
The Analysis of verbal behavior, 2012 · doi:10.1007/BF03393105