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The transfer of C rel contextual control (same, opposite, less than, more than) through equivalence relations
Author(s) -
Perez William F.,
Kovac Roberta,
Nico Yara C.,
Caro Daniel M.,
Fidalgo Adriana P.,
Linares Ila,
de Almeida João Henrique,
de Rose Júlio C.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1002/jeab.284
Subject(s) - psychology , relational frame theory , stimulus (psychology) , equivalence relation , equivalence (formal languages) , cognitive psychology , stimulus control , nonsense , communication , mathematics , pure mathematics , neuroscience , biology , biochemistry , gene , nicotine
According to Relational Frame Theory (RFT) C rel denotes a contextual stimulus that controls a particular type of relational response (sameness, opposition, comparative, temporal, hierarchical etc.) in a given situation. Previous studies suggest that contextual functions may be indirectly acquired via transfer of function. The present study investigated the transfer of C rel contextual control through equivalence relations. Experiment 1 evaluated the transfer of C rel contextual functions for relational responses based on sameness and opposition. Experiment 2 extended these findings by evaluating transfer of function using comparative C rel stimuli. Both experiments followed a similar sequence of phases. First, abstract forms were established as C rel stimuli via multiple exemplar training (Phase 1). The contextual cues were then applied to establish arbitrary relations among nonsense words and to test derived relations (Phase 2). After that, equivalence relations involving the original C rel stimuli and other abstract forms were trained and tested (Phase 3). Transfer of function was evaluated by replacing the directly established C rel stimuli with their equivalent stimuli in the former experimental tasks (Phases 1 and 2). Results from both experiments suggest that C rel contextual control may be extended via equivalence relations, allowing other arbitrarily related stimuli to indirectly acquire C rel functions and regulate behavior by evoking appropriate relational responses in the presence of both previously known and novel stimuli.