Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

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45th Annual Convention; Chicago, IL; 2019

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Symposium #184
CE Offered: BACB
Alternatives to Traditional Match-To-Sample Procedures to Establish Equivalence Classes
Sunday, May 26, 2019
8:00 AM–8:50 AM
Swissôtel, Concourse Level, Zurich E-G
Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research
Chair: Kenneth F. Reeve (Caldwell University)
CE Instructor: Kenneth F. Reeve, Ph.D.
Abstract:

The three talks in this symposium describe studies in which equivalence classes were established using procedures that differed from the more traditional match-to-sample procedures. In the first study, two 4-member equivalence classes of arbitrary stimuli were established using either single-element samples and comparisons or compound samples and comparisons. In the second study, additional alternative response options of “BOTH” and “NEITHER” were presented during specific trials across four groups of college students to assess equivalence class formation with arbitrary stimuli. The third study was a replication of Lantaya, Miguel, Howland, LaFrance, and Page (2018) in which visual-visual successive matching-to-sample was used to establish three-member equivalence classes with college students. This study extended Lantaya et al. by evaluating whether auditory-visual conditional relations (listener behavior), and cross-modal equivalence classes, could be established via successive matching-to-sample. Collectively, the three studies in this symposium extend the procedures that can be used to establish equivalence classes.

Instruction Level: Intermediate
Keyword(s): compound stimuli, derived relations, equivalence, successive MTS
Target Audience:

The target audience is behavior analysts interested in alternative match-to-sample procedures and researchers interested in conditional discrimination training and testing.

 

Using Compound Stimuli to Establish Equivalence Classes With College Students

CHRISTOPHER R COLASURDO (Caldwell University), Kenneth F. Reeve (Caldwell University), Adrienne Jennings (Caldwell University), Sharon A. Reeve (Caldwell University), Jason C. Vladescu (Caldwell University), Leif Albright (Caldwell University)
Abstract:

Equivalence classes are typically formed by teaching arbitrary conditional discriminations using match-to-sample (MTS) procedures and discrete stimuli. Because single stimulus equivalence procedures require a large number of trials, it may be helpful to identify more economical stimulus equivalence procedures. One way to do this may be to use compound stimuli as comparisons and samples to train equivalence classes. This study used a pretest-train-posttest between-groups design to compare the establishment of equivalence classes using either single-element equivalence training (consisting of single class members) or compound stimulus training (consisting of pairs of class members). Two 4-member stimulus classes were established during training. The results showed that stimulus classes were established with similar accuracy but in a shorter amount of time and in fewer trials for participants in the compound group as compared to participants in the single-element equivalence group. These results may provide clinicians a way to use stimulus equivalence procedures in a more mainstream setting.

 

Using “Both” and “Neither” Response Options While Training and Testing for Equivalence Classes With College Students

STEPHANIE BENDUSH (Caldwell University), Kenneth F. Reeve (Caldwell University), Adrienne Jennings (Caldwell University), Sharon A. Reeve (Caldwell University), Tina Sidener (Caldwell University), Leif Albright (Caldwell University)
Abstract:

In the present study, response options of “BOTH” and “NEITHER” (BoNe) were presented during specific conditions across four groups of college students to assess equivalence class formation of two, 3-member classes of abstract arbitrary stimuli. One group used BoNe during both training and emergent relations testing; one group used BoNe during training but standard MTS during emergent relations testing; one group used MTS for training, but BoNe for emergent relations testing; and a final group used standard MTS for both training and emergent relations testing (no BoNe options). Computer pretests and posttests included both standard 2-choice MTS trials and 4-choice BoNe trials. Scores improved from the pretest to posttest for both computer and sorting tests for all participants, regardless of experimental group. During the emergent relations testing, the BoNe-MTS group scored better than the MTS-BoNe group. The BoNe-MTS group required fewer remedial training blocks than the MTS-BoNe group. The BoNe-MTS group required fewer emergent relations testing blocks than the BoNe-BoNe and MTS-BoNe groups. These findings indicate that within the different formats of teaching equivalence classes, training and testing formats can impact learning equivalence classes and responding during emergent relations tests although overall efficiency did not vary across experimental groups.

 
Using Auditory-Visual Successive Matching-to-Sample to Establish Listener Behavior and Cross-Modal Equivalence Classes
KARINA ZHELEZOGLO (California State University, Sacramento), Ryley Acrea (California State University, Sacramento), Tina Marie Charnett (California State University, Sacramento), Robbie Hanson (Endicott College), Caio F. Miguel (California State University, Sacramento)
Abstract: Lantaya, Miguel, Howland, LaFrance, and Page (2018) evaluated a visual-visual successive matching-to-sample (S-MTS) procedure as an alternative to standard matching-to-sample to establish three-member equivalence classes with college students. The present study extended Lantaya et al. by evaluating whether auditory-visual conditional relations (listener behavior), and and cross-modal equivalence classes could be established via S-MTS. Following training of baseline relations (AB/AC), where all A stimuli are auditory and all B and C stimuli are visual, eight college students were tested for the emergence of untrained relations (i.e., BA/CA and BC/CB). In addition, we tested for the emergence of tacts of all visual stimuli and measured the latency between the presentation of sample and selectin of comparisons. We used a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across participants. All eight participants demonstrated emergence of BA/CA symmetry and BC/CB transitivity relations. Five out of eight participants responded with perfect accuracy on tact tests and there was also no significant difference in latency to related relations across trained and tested relations. IOA scores averaged 98.6% and TI scores averaged 99.6 %. Results from this experiment suggest that S-MTS could be an alternative to traditional MTS to teach listener behavior and establish equivalence classes.
 

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