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| Neuroscientific Measures of Stimulus Equivalence |
| Monday, May 25, 2020 |
| 10:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Virtual |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Guro Dunvoll (Oslo Metropolitan University) |
| Discussant: Daniele Ortu (University of North Texas) |
| Abstract: Recent studies have employed neuroscientific techniques to measure for derived stimulus-stimulus relations produced by MTS procecures. This symposium is comprised of four talks describing some of the uses of such techniques for assessments of covert behavior evoked when participants are given to equivalence protocols. The fisrt presentation will report an investigation that aimed at verifying how different numbers of meaningful and abstract stimuli affects number of training trials, equivalence class responding and eye-movements. The other presentations will focus on the Event-Potential Techinique (ERP) for detection of measurable changes in the brain’s activity resulting from derived stimulus-stimulus relations established by different MTS protocols. Thus, the second study will describe how ERPs can be sensitive to word-like sample stimulus. The third presentation will demonstrate how stimulus familiarity and training stucture impact on the ERPs waveforms. Finally, the last presentation will show how the ERPs related to stimulus equivalence can be “delayed” by extensive experience with MTS trials testing for transitivity and equivalence relations. Overall, the data discussed here have direct implication for the experimental analysis of complex behavior. |
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| Number of Meaningful Stimuli in Matching-to-Sample Procedure and Eye-Tracking |
| LIVE FAY BRAATEN (Oslo Metropolitan University), Erik Arntzen (Oslo Metropolitan University) |
| Abstract: Research has shown that including one meaningful stimulus among abstract stimuli in a class in matching-to-sample procedures increases the probability of responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence. The present experiment aims to investigate how different numbers of meaningful and abstract stimuli affects number of training trials, equivalence class responding and eye-movements. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups, varying the stimulus set. The stimulus set for Group 1 consisted of many meaningful stimuli and few abstract stimuli, the stimulus set for Group 2 consisted of few meaningful stimuli and many abstract stimuli. For Group 3, the stimulus set were all abstract stimuli. All groups were trained to respond to 12 conditional discriminations, learning three 5-member classes, in a one-to-many training structure. Preliminary results, with 23 participants, show that including a few meaningful stimuli are more efficient in establishing the conditional discriminations, compared to many meaningful stimuli and all abstract stimuli. In addition, once learning the conditional discriminations, participants trained with many meaningful stimuli had a higher probability of responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence than the other two groups.
There were also differences in eye-movements between the groups. |
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N400 Compared Between Adults With and Without High Functioning Autism |
| GURO DUNVOLL (Oslo Metropolitan University), Erik Arntzen (Oslo Metropolitan University), Torbjørn Elvsåshagen (Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research), Christoffer Hatlestad-Hall (CHTD research, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, Oslo University Hospital), Eva Malt (Department of Adult Habilitation) |
| Abstract: N400 is an event-related potential (ERP) measured approximately 400 ms after presentation of two incongruent stimuli compared with congruent stimuli. This also applies when the related stimuli are not directly trained. In the current experiment, six conditional discriminations were trained in a matching-to-sample procedure with the goal to form three 3-member classes with C stimuli as meaningful stimuli in a many-to-one training structure. The participants (one group with adults with high function autism and one group without such diagnosis) then were tested in a priming-procedure, with related and unrelated stimuli pair. N400 was measured in this phase. The results show a N400 response produced in both groups, similar to each other, but with a small difference between related and unrelated stimuli pairs in the ASD group. |
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