The transfer of specific and general consequential functions through simple and conditional equivalence relations.
Reinforcement and punishment functions can transfer through stimulus equivalence without direct training - consider this when designing stimulus classes in teaching programs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team ran four small lab studies with college students.
They built stimulus classes with matching-to-sample tasks.
Then they gave one class member a new reward or penalty job.
They watched to see if that job moved to the other members without training.
What they found
The reward and penalty jobs did travel through the class.
The transfer showed up fast and stayed steady.
When the class had if-then rules, the job only moved in the right context.
How this fits with other research
Perez et al. (2015) give you a faster way to build the classes.
Their simple-to-complex order beats the old block method, so you get the same transfer power in less time.
Davison et al. (2002) add a trainable on-off switch.
After many examples, learners can let the job move or stop it, giving you safe control.
Ortega et al. (2018) move the idea out of the lab.
One adult with Down syndrome learned a picture schedule, then followed the text version without any text training.
Silguero et al. (2023) warn that classes keep even clashing jobs.
They do not drop a member just because it fights with the reward plan, so check for clashes in your own sets.
Why it matters
You can link a reinforcer or punisher to one stimulus and let the effect spread to every class mate.
Use this to teach safety signs, brand labels, or social cues in one lesson and have the power travel to untrained items.
Before you do, run the Davison et al. (2002) context drill so the learner uses the new power only when you want it.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the transfer of consequential (reinforcement and punishment) functions through equivalence relations. In Experiment 1, 9 subjects acquired three three-member equivalence classes through matching-to-sample training using arbitrary visual forms. Comparison stimuli were then given conditioned reinforcement or punishment functions by pairing them with verbal feedback during a sorting task. For 8 of the 9 subjects, trained consequential functions transferred through their respective equivalence classes without additional training. In Experiment 2, transfer of function was initially tested before equivalence testing per se. Three of 4 subjects showed the transfer without a formal equivalence test. In Experiment 3, 3 subjects were given training that gave rise to six new three-member conditional equivalence classes. For 2 of the subjects, the same stimulus could have either a reinforcement or punishment function on the basis of contextual cues that defined its class membership. Experiment 4 assessed whether equivalence training had established general or specific consequential functions primarily by adding novel stimuli in the transfer test. Subjects treated even novel feedback stimuli in the transfer test as consequences, but the direction of consequential effects depended upon the transfer of specific consequential functions through equivalence relations.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1991 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1991.56-119