Premium
EQUIVALENCE CLASSES IN INDIVIDUALS WITH MINIMAL VERBAL REPERTOIRES
Author(s) -
Carr D.,
Wilkinson K. M.,
Blackman D.,
McIlvane W. J.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1901/jeab.2000.74-101
Subject(s) - equivalence (formal languages) , psychology , matching (statistics) , equivalence class (music) , equivalence relation , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , mathematics , combinatorics , statistics , discrete mathematics
Studies from two different laboratories tested for equivalence classes in individuals with severe mental retardation and minimal verbal repertoires. In the first study, 3 individuals learned several matching‐to‐sample performances: matching picture comparison stimuli to dictated‐word sample stimuli (AB), matching those same pictures to printed letter samples (CB), and also matching the pictures to nonrepresentative forms (DB). On subsequent tests, all individuals immediately displayed Emergent Relations AC, AD, BC, BD, CD, and DC, together constituting a positive demonstration of equivalence (as defined by Sidman). The second study obtained a positive equivalence test outcome in 1 of 2 individuals with similarly minimal verbal repertoires. Taken together, these studies call into question previous assertions that equivalence classes are demonstrable only in individuals with well‐developed language repertoires.