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. 1986 Nov;46(3):243–257. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1986.46-243

Equivalence class formation in language-able and language-disabled children.

J M Devany, S C Hayes, R O Nelson
PMCID: PMC1348265  PMID: 3805973

Abstract

Stimulus equivalence seems to have relevance to the study of semantics and of language more generally. If so, there may be a relation between language use and the demonstration of stimulus equivalence. This was examined in three groups of children ranging in chronological age and matched on a conventional measure of mental age: normally developing preschoolers, retarded children who used speech or signs spontaneously and appropriately, and retarded children who did not. All children were taught a series of four related discriminations and were then tested to determine if classes of equivalent stimuli had formed. All of the language-able children (retarded and normal) formed equivalence classes, whereas none of the language-disabled children did so. Although the exact nature of the relation between stimulus equivalence and language remains to be clarified, these results support the view that stimulus equivalence is a phenomenon with relevance to language.

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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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