Equivalence class formation as a function of preliminary training with pictorial stimuli

The present experiment investigated the effects of preliminary training with pictorial stimuli on the subsequent formation of three 5-member equivalence classes (A➔B➔C➔D➔E) in 84 university students assigned to seven groups of 12. In the Abstract (ABS) group, all stimuli were abstract shapes. In the Picture (PIC) group, the C stimuli were pictures, and the remaining stimuli were the same abstract shapes as in the ABS group. For the remaining five groups, all stimuli were the same abstract shapes as in the ABS group. However, across groups, preliminary training involved either the establishment of conditional relations with simultaneous (SMTS) or delayed (DMTS) matching-to-sample with 0 s, 3 s, 6 s, or 9 s between the abstract C stimuli and the meaningful…