Predicting and Influencing the Single-Trial-Type-Dominance-Effect: the First Study Abstract A recently published article reported a particular pattern of responding that has been observed on the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), referred to as a Single-Trial-Type-Dominance-Effect (STTDE; Finn, Barnes-Holmes, & McEnteggart in The Psychological Record, 68(1), 11–25, 2018). To account for the phenomenon, the Differential Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding Effects (DAARRE) model of IRAP performance was proposed. The DAARRE model predicts the STTDE in terms of an overlap in the functional properties of the label, target, and response-option stimuli presented within an IRAP. This article presents an initial attempt at engineering a STTDE within an experimental session. Forty participants were exposed to a series of training procedures and IRAPs. The training procedures consisted of a series of trials that aimed to establish a “True” function for a picture stimulus that was subsequently presented in the IRAP; participants were then exposed to an IRAP in which participants were required to respond “True” on a specific trial-type that presented that picture. Consistent with the DAARRE model, the STTDE emerged for the predicted trial-type, with analyses at both the group and individual participant level supporting this conclusion. The implications of the findings for future research on analyzing the dynamics of arbitrarily applicable relational responding are discussed.

Comparing Reinforcement Values of Facial Expressions: An Eye-Tracking Study Abstract Reinforcement values of facial expressions for visual fixation remain underdeveloped in extant literature, though numerous studies have investigated the function of facial expressions as antecedents of gaze behavior. This study used a concurrent gaze-contingent reinforcement procedure to compare reinforcement values of positive and negative facial expressions for gaze fixation. In total, 7 of the 20 typical adults fixated more frequently on the side that was followed by positive facial expressions. The results suggest that a novel application of eye tracking technology could allow for the evaluation and comparison of reinforcement values of social visual stimuli.

Gradient Shift is Sensitive to the Width of the Generalization Test Range Abstract Generalization gradients are sensitive to the manner in which participants are trained and tested. Discrimination training causes the generalization gradient to shift away from a stimulus paired with reinforcement (S+) in a direction opposite a stimulus paired with nonreinforcement (S-). In some cases, this leads to participants responding more frequently to a novel stimulus than S+ (a so-called peak shift). The present research examined how generalization gradients vary as a function of the range of stimuli used to test for generalization. In Experiment 1, college students were trained and tested with lines of varying lengths. Participants were assigned to either a control condition (S+ only) or to a discrimination training condition, and the generalization test was relatively narrow, intermediate, or wide. Discrimination training produced a peak shift when the test range was narrow, but not when it was wide. Also, a wide test range increased stimulus generalization. Experiment 2 used a similar method, but the stimuli were images of a woman that were digitally modified to create variations in her waist-to-hip ratio. This experiment confirmed that an increase in the width of the test range is accompanied by an increase in stimulus generalization. An increase in the test range did not eliminate peak shift in group-averaged data, however, the manner in which peak shift was expressed was found to differ for the narrow and wide test range conditions in the generalization gradients obtained from individual participants.

On Four Types of Devaluation of Outcomes Due to Their Costs: Delay, Probability, Effort, and Social Discounting Abstract Discounting refers to decreases in the subjective value of an outcome with increases in some attribute of that outcome. The attributes most commonly studied are delay and probability, with far less research on effort and social discounting. Although these attributes all represent costs that reduce subjective value, it is as yet unclear how the extent to which they do so is related at the individual level. Accordingly, the present study examined the degree to which individual participants discounted hypothetical monetary rewards on each of four discounting tasks in which the delay, probability, effort, and number of people with whom the money was to be shared were manipulated. At the group level, larger amounts were discounted less steeply than smaller amounts when delay and effort were varied, whereas larger amounts were discounted more steeply when probability and number of people were varied. At the individual level, the correlational pattern was examined using exploratory factor analysis. A six-factor structure (with separate factors for delay and effort, and two factors each for social and probability discounting) described the relations among indifference points. At a more molar level, a two-factor structure, which corresponded to the direction of the observed magnitude effects, described the relations among area-under-the-curve measures of discounting in the eight conditions resulting from crossing two monetary amounts with the four cost factors. We conclude that despite sharing some similarities, individual and group differences in discounting involving the different types of costs reflect mostly separate processes and traits.

Effect of Rapid Responding on Establishment of Conditional Discriminations and Formation of Equivalence Classes Abstract Five adults served as participants in the present experiment, which aimed to study the establishment of conditional discriminations and the formation of equivalence classes with a restricted time window for responding. Prior to the conditional discrimination training the participants were trained in fast responding. This preliminary training was arranged with identity matching of colors in which a limited hold (LH) to sample and comparison was titrated to an asymptotic value of fast responding. The limited hold to the sample ranged from asymptotic values of 400 ms to 700 ms and to the comparison ranged the asymptotic values from 800 ms to 1100 ms. In the conditional-discrimination training, the value of the LH was tailored to each participant’s asymptotic value in the preliminary training plus 200 ms. None of the five participants established the conditional discriminations. Therefore, in the next phase, the LH was titrated upward until the participants established the conditional discriminations. The main findings were that four of the five participants responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence.

Unfinished Business: J. E. R. Staddon’s The New Behaviorism , 2 nd ed

Time, Sleep, and Stimulus Equivalence-Based Relational Memory Abstract Relational memory is the ability to flexibly organize and integrate multiple sources of information to produce emergent outcomes. In tests for one type of relational memory—stimulus equivalence—arbitrary stimuli become related in ways not explicitly trained. Little is known, however, about whether stimulus equivalence-based relational memory ability differentially emerges during offline periods of either sleep or wake. In this study, 51 healthy young adults learned a series of interconnected conditional relations involving arbitrary visual images (A-B, A-C, and A-D), and were immediately tested for maintenance of these relations. Following a 12-hour offline period consisting of either sleep or wake, both groups were tested for novel inferences—symmetry (B-A, C-A, and D-A) and equivalence relations (B-C, C-B, C-D, and D-C)—as well as retention of the trained relations. Results from delayed testing, supported by Bayesian statistics, showed that accuracy did not differ between the sleep and wake groups. Potential limitations of this preliminary investigation and directions for future research are discussed.

Evaluating Concept Formation in Multiple Exemplar Training with Musical Chords Abstract The present study evaluated a teaching procedure based on Multiple Exemplar Training (MET) to establish conditional relations between musical chords and printed words. In addition, generalization tests were provided to participants to assess concept formation processes for different types of musical chords (e.g., major, minor, consonant, and dissonant). Forty college students were equally distributed into two groups. Group 1 was taught the conditional relations between major and minor chords using different notes and the printed words “MAJOR” and “MINOR.” Group 2 was taught the conditional relations between consonant and dissonant chords using different notes and the printed words “CONSONANT” and “DISSONANT.” Generalization tests were given in between each training phase. Five participants from Group 1 and seven participants from Group 2 achieved the learning criteria for all training phases. The results revealed that the average percentage of correct responses during the last generalization test was higher when compared to the pretest for both groups. Our findings suggest that the MET procedure was suitable for establishing conditional relations between musical chords and printed words. Moreover, the generalization test results revealed the concept formation processes for some participants.

Identifying Accurate and Inaccurate Stimulus Relations: Human and Computer Learning Abstract In three experiments, we explore human and simulated participants’ potential for deriving and merging analogous forms of stimulus relations. In the first experiment, five human participants were exposed to compound stimuli (stimulus pairs) by way of an automated yes–no protocol. Participants received discrimination training focusing on four three-member stimulus classes, where only two of the four classes were correctly related algebraic expressions. Training was intended to establish generalized identification of novel correct stimulus pairs and generalized identification of novel incorrect stimulus pairs. In Experiment 2, we employed a three-layer connectionist model (CM) of a yes–no protocol aimed at training and testing an analogous set of stimulus relations. Our procedures were aimed at assessing a neural network’s ability to simulate derived stimulus relations consistent with the human performances observed in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we employed a four-layer CM to compute the number of training epochs required to attain mastery. As with our human participants, our neural network required specific training procedures to become proficient in identifying stimuli as being members or nonmembers of specific classes. Outcomes from Experiment 3 suggest that the number of training epochs required to attain mastery for our simulated participants corresponded closely with the number of training trials required of our human participants during Experiment 1. Moreover, generalization tests revealed that human and simulated participants exhibited analogous response patterns. We discuss the evolving potential for CMs to emulate and predict human training requirements for deriving and merging complex stimulus relations during generalization tests.

Technical Notation as a Tool for Basic Research in Relational Frame Theory Abstract A core overarching aim of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) research on language and cognition is the prediction and influence of human behavior with precision, scope, and depth. However, the conceptualization and delineation of empirical investigations of higher-order language and cognition from a relational framing theoretical standpoint is a challenging task that requires a high degree of abstract reasoning and creativity. To that end, we propose using symbolic notation as seen in early RFT experimental literature as a possible functional-analytical tool to aid in the articulation of hypotheses and design of such experiments. In this article, we provide examples of aspects of cognition previously identified in RFT literature and how they can be articulated rather more concisely using technical notation than in-text illustration. We then provide a brief demonstration of the utility of notation by offering examples of several novel experiments and hypotheses in notation format. In two tables, we provide a “key” for understanding the technical notation written herein, which other basic-science researchers may decide to draw on in future. To conclude, this article is intended to be a useful resource to those who wish to carry out basic RFT research on complex language and cognition with greater technical clarity, precision, and broad scope.