Whelan, R., Barnes-Holmes, D. & Dymond, S. (2006).
The transformation of consequential functions in accordance with the relational frames of more-than and less-than.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 86, 317-335.
Across three experiments, the transformation of consequential functions in accordance
with a seven-member relational network (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) was investigated. In this network,
the relational rankings ranged from A, ranked the least, to G, ranked the most. In the
first phase, contextual cues for more-than and less-than were established by training
participants across multiple exemplars to select comparisons containing larger quantities
in the presence of the former cue, and fewer quantities in the presence of the latter cue.
Participants then were trained in six conditional discriminations
(i.e., A<B, B<C, C<D, E>D, F>E, and G>F) with the contextual cues as samples
and nonsense words as comparisons, and all possible derived relations were
tested (e.g., B<F). In a subsequent phase, the D stimulus was paired with
the delivery of points. Next, a test for a transformation of consequential
functions was presented in either simultaneous discrimination tasks (Experiments 1 and 2)
or a free-operant schedule task (Experiment 3), each of which
employed members of the relational network as consequences. In all
experiments, participants consistently emitted the response that
produced the derived consequential stimulus that was ranked higher
in the relational network, thus demonstrating a transformation of
consequential functions. In Experiment 2, the baseline conditional
discriminations were altered in a reversal design, and Experiment 3
examined generalization of the derived performance to a schedule-based task,
with and without detailed instructions. Overall, the study demonstrated a
transformation and generalization of consequential functions in accordance
with the relational frames of more-than and less-than, and bears relevance
to the literature on transitive inference.
Key words: consequential functions, transformation of functions, relational frames of More-than/Less-than, reversal design, generalization, mouse click, human adults