Alternate Title
Comparing sorting and match-to-sample procedures
Advisor(s)
Paula Braga-Kenyon
Contributor(s)
Chata Dickson, Meca Andrade, Karen E. Gould
Date of Award
2011
Date Accepted
3-2011
Degree Grantor
Northeastern University
Degree Level
M.S.
Degree Name
Master of Applied Behavior Analysis
Department or Academic Unit
Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology.
Keywords
behavioral sciences, conditional discriminations, equivalence relations, match-to-sample, sorting
Subject Categories
Conditioned response
Disciplines
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Abstract
Match-to-sample procedures (MTS) are often implemented to train conditional relations and to test for emergent relations among arbitrary stimuli. In 1997, Eikeseth, Rosales-Ruiz, Duarte, and Baer evaluated the efficacy of using written instruction as an alternative to MTS to train conditional relations among arbitrary stimuli. Smeets, Dymond, and Barnes-Holmes (2000) extended Eikeseth et al. (1997) by introducing a sorting method, in which all comparison and sample stimuli were present simultaneously, to test for emergent relations among arbitrary stimuli after training conditional discriminations using MTS. The current study extended previous research further by using a paper-and-pencil format to compare MTS and sorting procedures for both training conditional relations among abstract stimuli and testing for the emergence of novel relations. Three typically developing adults, ages 24-25, learned AB and AC relations by first tracing and then independently drawing lines linking arbitrary stimuli. Once discriminations were established using one procedure, novel relations (BA, CA, BC, and CB) were tested using both sorting and MTS procedures. Participants then completed the protocol with a new set of stimuli, using the alternative procedure for training. Novel relations emerged for all three participants with both procedures. All participants required additional exposure to conditional discriminations when learning with the MTS procedure before demonstrating equivalence, suggesting that sorting may be a more effective method for both training conditional discriminations among arbitrary stimuli and promoting the emergence of equivalence classes among arbitrary stimuli.
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Rights Holder
Lindsay J. Grimm
Permanent URL
Recommended Citation
Grimm, Lindsay J., "Emergence of equivalence relations: comparing sorting and match-to-sample procedures" (2011). Applied Behavioral Analysis Master's Theses. Paper 53. http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20001017
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