EMERGENCE OF LARGE EQUIVALENCE CLASSES AS A FUNCTION OF TRAINING STRUCTURES

Abstract

This experiment compared the outcomes of two training structures on the emergence of three 7-member equivalence classes. Seventeen adults were exposed to the Many-to-One (MTO) and another 17 to the One-to-Many (OTM) training structure. The MTO group trained the baseline relations BA, CA, DA, EA, FA, and GA, and the OTM group trained AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, and AG. After mastering the baseline, a test evaluated the maintenance of baseline and the emergence of symmetry and equivalence relations, under a simultaneous protocol. As a result, fifteen out of seventeen (88%) participants in both groups demonstrated stimulus equivalence. There was no significant difference between groups in the average number of training trials required to learn the baseline relations, nor in accuracy in emergent test trials. The MTO group was characterized by faster response speed in baseline training and test trials. Every participant who failed in the MTO group had persistent errors before four, five, or six out of the 18 sample stimuli during the training, while participants who failed in the OTM group had varied baseline acquisition patterns.