A Derived Transformation of Valence Functions Across Two 8-Member Comparative Relational Networks

The emergence of transitive relations between stimuli\udthat had never been directly paired with one another can be\udexamined through a phenomenon called Transitive Inference\ud(TI). The present experiment explored contextually controlled\udTI effects in verbally able humans. Specifically, participants\udwere trained in the conditional discriminations A1+B1-, B1+\udC1-, C1+D1-, D1+E1-, E1+F1-, F1+G1- and G1+H1- in the\udpresence of a cue (Cue 1), followed by tests for mutual and\udcombinatorial entailment in the presence of either Cue 1 or\udCue 2. Note that Cue 1 and Cue 2 had been previously\udestablished as functionally equivalent to happier-than and\udunhappier-than contexts, respectively. Using a performancebased\udmeasure of Bimplicit preferences,^ we predicted that\udsuccessfully demonstrating entailment would yield a performance\udindicating C1 as more positively valenced than F1.\udSimilarly, if participants learned the discriminations A2+B2-,\udB2+C2-, C2+D2-, D2+E2-, E2+F2-, F2+G2-, G2+H2- in the\udpresence of Cue 2 only, followed by tests for entailment in the\udpresence of both Cues 1 and 2, we predicted that C2 should be\udresponded to as more negatively valenced than F2.\udPerformances across both conditions supported these predictions,\udfurthering the evidence for the claim that emotional\udvalences can be derived through functionally transitive\udstimulus-stimulus relations