Transfers of stimulus function during roulette wagering

Dixon et al. (2017) worked with 25 adults who play roulette for fun.

The team used a computer program to teach the adults that one roulette color goes with nice words and another color goes with nasty words.

After the colors and words became one class, the adults played a free roulette game while the researchers tracked how much they bet on each color.

Twenty-one of the 25 adults raised their bets on the color that had been paired with nice words.

The change happened even though the color itself had never paid more money; only the words had been nice.

Rojahn et al. (1994) showed the same transfer effect earlier. They taught adults equivalence classes, then gave one member a mild shock response. The fear reaction popped up for every member of the class.

Roche et al. (1997) found the same pattern with pleasant feelings. Once a stimulus entered an equivalence class, the good feeling attached to one member spread to the rest.

Dixon’s group simply moved the idea from lab feelings to real-world gambling. The mechanism—equivalence-based transfer—stays the same.

You can alter how clients value stimuli without touching the reinforcer itself. Pair a token, picture, or color with words the client already likes, check that equivalence forms, and the token gains that same appeal. Try this when teaching money skills, food choice, or social media safety. One short equivalence lesson can shift later decisions without extra reinforcement.