establishment of stimulus-stimulus relations without differential reinforcement

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20002815

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether stimulus-stimulus relations (AB) could be established without differential reinforcement and to assess these relations for symmetry. Two typically developed individuals, ages 7 and 26 participated in this study. Participants were first presented with a series of matching to sample tasks using familiar stimuli, and accurate performance on these tasks was maintained without any differential consequences. Target stimulus-stimulus associations involving three pairs of visual arbitrary symbols were then introduced through sequences of matching to sample trials in which two random stimuli served as incorrect comparison (S-) in every trial. During this phase, the only response that could occur consistently across trials was towards the stimulus designated as correct (S+). Each Participants' responses varied in the absence of differential reinforcement of each selection (i.e. always choosing the stimulus that appeared consistently on the array). Changes in trial configuration were systematically and gradually carried out so that the random comparison stimuli were replaced by target stimuli belonging to the other association pairs for Todd. Changes in trial configuration were carried out more abruptly, not gradually fading in the random S-`s for Angelina. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that stimulus-stimulus relations can be established in the absence of direct training involving differential consequences for correct responses.