Tonneau, F., Arreola, F. & Martinez, A. G. (2006).
Function transformation without reinforcement.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 85, 393-405.
In studies of function transformation, participants initially are taught to
match stimuli in the presence of a contextual cue, X; the stimuli to be matched
bear some formal relation to each other, for example, a relation of opposition
or difference. In a second phase, the participants are taught to match arbitrary
stimuli (say, A and B) in the presence of X. In a final test, A often displays
behavioral functions that differ from those of B, and can be predicted from the
nature of the relation associated with X in the initial training phase. Here we
report function-transformation effects in the absence of selection responses and
of their reinforcers. In three experiments with college students, exposure to
relations of difference or identity modified the responses given to later stimuli.
In Experiment 1, responses to a test stimulus A varied depending on preexposure
to pairs of colors that were distinct from A but exemplified relations of difference
or identity. In Experiment 2, a stimulus A acquired distinct functions, depending
on its previous pairing
with a contextual cue X that had itself been paired with identity or difference
among colors. Experiment 3 confirmed the results of Experiment 2 with a modified
design. Our data are consistent with the notion that relations of identity or
difference can serve as stimuli for Pavlovian processes, and, in compound with
other cues, produce apparent function-transformation effects.
Key words: function transformation, Pavlovian conditioning, stimulus relation, stimulus compound, keyboard typing, humans