Association for Behavior Analysis International

While responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence has been demonstrated across a variety of content areas, questions still remain pertaining to variables that can affect class formation (e.g., topography of class stimuli, nodal distance effects). This symposium will present recent data aimed at addressing some of these potential variables. In the first study, three groups of participants formed classes consisting of stimuli related to Skinner’s verbal operants. Groups were outlined by the format of the stimuli used across classes. These included videos, animated pictorial stimuli, and textual stimuli. The second study, evaluated the combined effects of nodal number and relational type on relatedness of stimuli within equivalence classes. After classes were formed participants were presented with within-class relational preference tests pitting a consistent equivalence relation against increasingly distal transitive relations. In our final study, equivalence-based instruction was used to teach college students to identify functional relations when presented with graphs. Training resulted in the formation of equivalence classes consisting of graphs, functional relation rules, and functional relation statements. A novel EBI training system was used in this study and the impact of computer-based EBI systems in general is discussed.

While equivalence-based instruction (EBI) has been thoroughly investigated using a variety of stimulus-stimulus relations (e.g., auditory-visual, visual-visual etc.) across settings and participants, direct comparisons of the efficacy of EBI using different compound/complex stimuli during training has not been conducted. In particular, video or animated stimuli have rarely been used in EBI research. Videos and animations are widely used by learners of all ages in training and educational settings, and the widespread availability of devices with high-speed internet access makes an investigation into how to incorporate video-based stimuli into emergent learning protocols socially relevant and necessary. The current study evaluated the use of video and animated vignettes to teach Skinner’s verbal operants to ABA practitioners, and the establishment of six 4-member equivalence classes (the elementary operants) where only two relations in each class were directly trained. Specifically, the purpose of the current study was to assess whether the use of video or animated vignettes as part of an EBI system using selection-based conditional discrimination and match-to-sample training, and topography-based tact training, would be more effective than using written or audio vignettes alone. Initial data suggest that, like other stimulus-stimulus relations, compound/complex auditory-visual stimuli, such as videos of applied vignettes, can be used to form equivalence classes with minimal direct training and a near immediate emergence of derived relational responding. Implications and future research questions will also be discussed.

Published research has suggested that practicing behavior analysts do not demonstrate consistent agreement when identifying the levels of functional relations depicted in graphs (see Wolfe, Seaman, & Drasgow, 2016). Given this research, it appears that traditional (i.e., didactic) instruction is insufficient to train this applied and analytical skill (Danov & Symons, 2008; Diller, Barry, & Gelino, 2016). More effective teaching methods appear to be necessary to ensure the accuracy and reliability of visual analysis across behavior analysts. Equivalence-Based Instruction (EBI) research has demonstrated that conditional discrimination training is an effective teaching method that also results in the emergence of responses to untrained stimuli. EBI has been shown to be effective across a wide range of learners and skills. The current study used an EBI system consisting of computer-based match-to-sample procedures to teach six college students to identify functional relations when presented with graphs. Training resulted in the formation of equivalence classes consisting of graphs, functional relation rules, and functional relation statements. A novel EBI training system was used in this study and the impact of computer-based EBI systems in general is discussed.