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Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes

Equivalence classes are defined according to the substitutability, or functional similarity, of the stimuli within a stimulus class. Several studies have demonstrated that the degree of functional similarity between stimuli in a class is dependent, in part, upon the number of nodes (intervening stim...

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Autores principales: Chand, Gabriel, Edwards, Timothy L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9804560/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36053851
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jeab.793
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author Chand, Gabriel
Edwards, Timothy L.
author_facet Chand, Gabriel
Edwards, Timothy L.
author_sort Chand, Gabriel
collection PubMed
description Equivalence classes are defined according to the substitutability, or functional similarity, of the stimuli within a stimulus class. Several studies have demonstrated that the degree of functional similarity between stimuli in a class is dependent, in part, upon the number of nodes (intervening stimuli) between the stimuli. Higher nodal number is related to lower functional similarity. This effect is referred to as “nodality.” There are three key factors that have not been simultaneously controlled for in the relevant studies: priming effects, reinforcement during training, and multiple stimulus functions of stimuli (sample, comparison, or both). In the present experiment, controlling for these factors, two 6‐member, 4‐node equivalence classes were established, and a within‐class preference assessment was used to evaluate nodality. Of 12 participants, five achieved criterion accuracy (90%) during testing. These participants demonstrated nodality, showing preference for stimuli that were nodally proximal to a sample in the preference test. When distal comparisons were chosen, participants took longer, on average, to make the selection compared to selections of proximal stimuli. These findings are consistent with earlier studies demonstrating nodality, which suggests that nodality is a robust phenomenon and not an artifact of the factors that were controlled for in the present study.
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spelling pubmed-98045602023-01-03 Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes Chand, Gabriel Edwards, Timothy L. J Exp Anal Behav Research Articles Equivalence classes are defined according to the substitutability, or functional similarity, of the stimuli within a stimulus class. Several studies have demonstrated that the degree of functional similarity between stimuli in a class is dependent, in part, upon the number of nodes (intervening stimuli) between the stimuli. Higher nodal number is related to lower functional similarity. This effect is referred to as “nodality.” There are three key factors that have not been simultaneously controlled for in the relevant studies: priming effects, reinforcement during training, and multiple stimulus functions of stimuli (sample, comparison, or both). In the present experiment, controlling for these factors, two 6‐member, 4‐node equivalence classes were established, and a within‐class preference assessment was used to evaluate nodality. Of 12 participants, five achieved criterion accuracy (90%) during testing. These participants demonstrated nodality, showing preference for stimuli that were nodally proximal to a sample in the preference test. When distal comparisons were chosen, participants took longer, on average, to make the selection compared to selections of proximal stimuli. These findings are consistent with earlier studies demonstrating nodality, which suggests that nodality is a robust phenomenon and not an artifact of the factors that were controlled for in the present study. Wiley Subscription Services, Inc. 2022-08-22 2022-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9804560/ /pubmed/36053851 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jeab.793 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Chand, Gabriel
Edwards, Timothy L.
Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
title Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
title_full Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
title_fullStr Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
title_full_unstemmed Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
title_short Reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
title_sort reexamining nodality in equivalence classes
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9804560/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36053851
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jeab.793
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