Stimulus Equivalence and Cross-Modal Transfer

Abstract

Two experiments investigated equivalence relations among auditory, visual, and tactile stimuli. In Experiment 1, three 6- and 7-year-old children learned conditional discriminations with auditory samples and tactile comparisons. In subsequent tests, they demonstrated that the conditional relations of the auditory and tactile stimuli were equivalence relations. Through cross-modal transfer, the classes also had extended to include novel visual stimuli that resembled the tactile stimuli in form and size. Experiment 2 reversed the role of the tactile and visual stimuli. After learning conditional discriminations with auditory samples and visual comparisons, the children demonstrated equivalence classes that included the training stimuli plus novel tactile stimuli that resembled the visual stimuli. One child in this experiment needed cross-modal training before the classes appeared. The experiments illustrate one way in which stimulus equivalence classes are extended and relate the paradigm of stimulus equivalence to studying perception.