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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1983 Jul;40(1):69–78. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1983.40-69

The development of derived stimulus relations through training in arbitrary-matching sequences

Bruce Wetherby, George R Karlan, Joseph E Spradlin
PMCID: PMC1347845  PMID: 16812338

Abstract

Five-year-old children were taught three-stage sequences of arbitrary matching: A-C, B-C, A-D; A-C, B-D, B-C; or A-C, A-D, B-C. Each stage refers to a sample-comparison relation between stimuli. Unreinforced test probes revealed untrained arbitrary matches (B-D, A-D, and B-D, respectively), derivable by substitution of stimuli with a common sample or comparison function. Additional probes revealed further untrained sample-comparison relations derivable by substitution and identity, including the commuted relations D-B, D-A, and D-B, respectively. These processes may have relevance to conceptual and verbal behavior.

Keywords: stimulus control, arbitrary matching to sample, derived stimulus relations, stimulus equivalence, stimulus classes, substitutability, language, children

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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