Abstract
It has been 25 years since the publication of Sidman et al.’s (1982) report on the search for symmetry in nonhuman animals. They attributed their nonhuman subjects’ failure to the absence of some critical experiences (e.g., exemplar training, control of location variables, and generalized identity matching). Since then, species ranging from rats to chimpanzees have been tested on symmetry, and the results have been equivocal. Twenty-four investigations of symmetry in nonhumans are reviewed to determine whether the underlying factors first addressed by Sidman et al. (1982) have been verified and whether new factors have been identified. The emergent picture shows that the standard procedures as typically implemented on a three-key apparatus are insufficient by themselves to produce emergent symmetry in nonhumans. Recent successful demonstrations of symmetry in sea lions and pigeons have clarified certain important stimulus control variables (i.e., select and reject control) and suggest avenues for future research. Reliable symmetry may be achievable with nonhumans if training and test procedures that encourage compatible stimulus-control topographies and relations are designed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Arcediano, F., Escobar, M., & Miller, R. R. (2003). Temporal integration and temporal backward associations in human and nonhuman subjects. Learning & Behavior, 31, 242–256.
Asch, S. E., & Ebenholtz, S. M. (1962). The principle of associative symmetry. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106, 135–163.
Barnet, R. C., & Miller, R. R. (1996). Second-order excitation mediated by a backward conditioned inhibitor. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 22, 279–296.
Barros, R. S., Galvão, O. F., & Fontes, J. C. S. (1996). Um teste de simetria após treino de relaçôes condicionais de posição com macaco Ateles paniscus paniscus. Acta Comportamentalia, 4, 181–204
Barros, R. S., Galvão, O. F., & McIlvane, W. J. (2002). Generalized identity matching-to-sample in Cebus apella. Psychological Record, 52, 441–460.
Bartling, C. A., & Thompson, C. P. (1977). Encoding specificity: Retrieval asymmetry in the recognition failure paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory, 3, 690–700.
Bunch, M. E., & Lund, W. R. (1932). An experiment on backward associations in animal learning. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 13, 143–156.
Bunsey, M., & Eichenbaum, H. (1996). Conservation of hippocampal memory function in rats and humans. Nature, 379, 255–257.
Carr, D., Wilkinson, K. M., Blackman, D., & McIlvane, W. J. (2000). Equivalence classes in individuals with minimal verbal repertoires. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 74, 101–114.
Carr, H. A., & Freeman, A. S. (1919). Time relationships in the formation of associations. Psychological Review, 26, 465–473.
Carrigan, P. F., & Sidman, M. (1992). Conditional discrimination and equivalence relations: A theoretical analysis of control by negative stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 58, 183–204.
Coutu, E. W. (1966). Associative asymmetry in paired associates. Psychonomic Science, 5, 389–390.
Cumming, W. W., & Berryman, R. (1965). The complex discriminated operant: Studies of matching-to-sample and related problems. In D. I. Mostofsky (Ed.), Stimulus generalization (pp. 284–330). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
D’Amato, M. R., Salmon, D. P., Loukas, E., & Tomie, A. (1985). Symmetry and transitivity of conditional relations in monkeys (Cebus apella) and pigeons (Columba livia). Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 44, 35–47.
Delamater, A. R., LoLordo, V. M., & Sosa, W. (2003). Outcome-specific conditioned inhibition in Pavlovian backward conditioning. Learning & Behavior, 31, 393–402.
Devany, J. M., Hayes, S. C., & Nelson, R. O. (1986). Equivalence class formation in language-able and language-disabled children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 46, 243–257.
Dixon, M. H., & Dixon, L. S. (1978). The nature of standard control in children’s matching-to-sample. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 30, 205–212.
Dorcas, M. D. (1932). The establishing of backward associations in forward learning of the maze by albino rats. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 13, 11–18.
Dube, W. V., & McIlvane, W. J. (1996). Some implications of a stimulus control topography analysis for emergent stimulus classes. In T. R. Zentall & P. M. Smeets (Eds.), Stimulus class formation in humans and animals (pp. 197–218). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Dugdale, N., & Lowe, C. F. (2000). Testing for symmetry in the conditional discriminations of language-trained chimpanzees. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 73, 5–22.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1913). Memory (H. A. Ruger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York: Columbia University, Teachers College. (Original work published 1885)
Eikeseth, S., & Smith, T. (1992). The development of functional and equivalence classes in high-functioning autistic children: The role of naming. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 58, 123–133.
Fields, L., Adams, B. J., Brown, J. L., & Verhave, T. (1993). The generalization of emergent relations in equivalence classes: Stimulus substitutability. Psychological Record, 43, 235–254.
Frank, A. J., & Wasserman, E. A. (2005). Associate symmetry in the pigeon after successive matching-to-sample training. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 84, 147–165.
García, A., & Benjumea, S. (2006). The emergence of symmetry in a conditional discrimination task using different responses as proprioceptive samples in pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 86, 65–80.
Goulart, P. R. K., Mendonça, M. B., Barros, R. S., Galvão, O. F., & McIlvane, W. J. (2005). A note on select- and reject-controlling relations in the simple discrimination of capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Behavioural Processes, 69, 295–302.
Gray, L. (1966). Backward association in pigeons. Psychonomic Science, 4, 333–334.
Hayes, S. C. (1989). Nonhumans have not yet shown stimulus equivalence. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 51, 385–392.
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (2001). Relational frame theory: A précis. In S. C. Hayes, D. Barnes-Holmes, & B. Roche (Eds.), Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition (pp. 141–154). New York: Kluwer/Plenum.
Hayes, S. C., Gifford, E. V., & Wilson, K. G. (1996). Stimulus classes and stimulus relations: Arbitrary applicable relational responding as an operant. In T. R. Zentall & P. M. Smeets (Eds.), Stimulus class formation in humans and animals (pp. 279–299). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Hearst, E. (1989). Backward associations: Differential learning about stimuli that follow the presence versus the absence of food in pigeons. Learning & Behavior, 17, 280–290.
Herman, L. M., & Gordon, J. A. (1974). Auditory delayed matching in the bottlenose dolphin. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 21, 19–26.
Herman, L. M., Hovancik, J. R., Gory, J. D., & Bradshaw, G. L. (1989). Generalization of visual matching by a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates): Evidence for invariance of cognitive performance with visual and auditory materials. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 15, 124–136.
Hogan, D. E., & Zentall, T. R. (1977). Backward associations in the pigeon. American Journal of Psychology, 90, 3–15.
Holmes, P. W. (1979). Transfer of matching performance in pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 31, 103–114.
Horne, P. J., & Lowe, C. F. (1996). On the origins of naming and other symbolic behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 65, 185–242.
Iversen, I. (1997). Matching-to-sample performance in rats: A case of mistaken identity? Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 68, 27–47.
Iversen, I., Sidman, M., & Carrigan, P. (1986). Stimulus definition in conditional discriminations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 45, 297–304.
Johnson, C., & Sidman, M. (1993). Conditional discrimination and equivalence relations: Control by negative stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 59, 333–347.
Kahana, M. J. (2002). Associative symmetry and memory theory. Memory & Cognition, 30, 823–840.
Kastak, C. R., Schusterman, R. J., & Kastak, D. (2001). Equivalence classification by California sea lions using class-specific reinforcers. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 76, 131–158.
Katz, J. S., & Wright, A. A. (2006). Same/different abstract-concept learning by pigeons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 80–86.
Keith-Lucas, T., & Guttman, N. (1975). Robust single-trial delayed backward conditioning. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 88, 468–476.
Kendall, S. B. (1983). Tests for mediated transfer in pigeons. Psychological Record, 33, 245–256.
Kuno, H., Kitadate, T., & Iwamoto, T. (1994). Formation of transitivity in conditional matching to sample by pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 62, 399–408.
Levy, C. M., & Nevill, D. D. (1974). B-A learning as a function of degrees of A-B learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 102, 327–329.
Lionello, K. M., & Urcuioli, P. J. (1998). Control by sample location in pigeons’ matching to sample. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 70, 235–251.
Lionello-DeNolf, K. M., & Urcuioli, P. J. (2000). Transfer of pigeons’ matching-to-sample to novel sample locations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 73, 141–161.
Lionello-DeNolf, K. M., & Urcuioli, P. J. (2002). Stimulus control topographies and test of symmetry in pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 78, 467–495.
Lipkens, R., Kop, P. F. M., & Matthijs, W. (1988). A test of symmetry and transitivity in the conditional discrimination performances of pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 49, 395–409.
Lockhart, R. S. (1969). Retrieval asymmetry in the recall of adjectives and nouns. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 79, 12–17.
Mandler, G., Rabinowitz, J. C., & Simon, R. A. (1981). Coordinate organization: The holistic representation of word pairs. American Journal of Psychology, 92, 209–222.
McIlvane, W. J., Serna, R. W., Dube, W. V., & Stromer, R. L. (2000). Stimulus control topography coherence and stimulus equivalence: Reconciling test outcomes with theory. In J. Leslie & D. E. Blackman (Eds.), Experimental and applied analysis of human behavior (pp. 85–110). Reno: Context Press.
McIntire, K. D., Cleary, J., & Thompson, T. (1987). Conditional relations by monkeys: Reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 47, 279–285.
Moscovitch, A., & LoLordo, V. M. (1968). Role of safety in the Pavlovian backward fear conditioning procedure. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 68, 673–678.
Murdock, B. B., Jr. (1962). The serial position effect of free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 482–488.
Murdock, B. B., Jr. (1966). Forward and backward associations in paired associates. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 732–737.
Nakagawa, E. (2001). Acquired equivalence of cues in learning a matching-to-sample task by rats. Psychological Record, 51, 453–467.
Oden, D. L., Thompson, R. K., & Premack, D. (1988). Spontaneous transfer of matching by infant chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 14, 140–145.
Pavlov, I. P. (1928). Lectures on conditioned reflexes. New York: International Publishers.
Peña, T., Pitts, R. C., & Galizio, M. (2006). Identity matching-tosample with olfactory stimuli in rats. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 85, 203–221.
Razran, G. (1956). Backward conditioning. Psychological Bulletin, 53, 55–69.
Richards, R. W. (1988). The question of bidirectional associations in pigeons’ learning of conditional discrimination tasks. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 26, 577–579.
Rodewald, H. K. (1974). Symbolic matching-to-sample by pigeons. Psychological Reports, 34, 987–990.
Santos, J. R., Barros, R. S., & Galvão, O. (2003, May). Symmetry in Cebus apella. Paper presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, San Francisco.
Saunders, K. J., & Spradlin, J. E. (1989). Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: The effect of training the component simple discriminations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 52, 1–12.
Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S., Rumbaugh, D. M., Smith, S. T., & Lawson, J. (1980). Reference: The linguistic essential. Science, 210, 922–925.
Schusterman, R. J., & Kastak, D. (1993). A California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) is capable of forming equivalence relations. Psychological Record, 43, 823–839.
Sidman, M. (1990). Equivalence relations: Where do they come from? In D. E. Blackman & H. Lejeune (Eds.), Behavior analysis in theory and practice: Contributions and controversies (pp. 93–114). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sidman, M. (1994). Equivalence relations and behavior: A research story. Boston: Authors Cooperative.
Sidman, M. (2000). Equivalence relations and the reinforcement contingency. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 74, 127–146.
Sidman, M., Cresson, O., Jr., & Willson-Morris, M. (1974). Acquisition of matching to sample via mediated transfer. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 22, 261–273.
Sidman, M., Rauzin, R., Lazar, R., Cunningham, S., Tailby, W., & Carrigan, P. (1982). A search for symmetry in the conditional discriminations of rhesus monkeys, baboons, and children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 23–44.
Sidman, M., & Tailby, W. (1982). Conditional discrimination vs. matching to sample: An expansion of the testing paradigm. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 5–22.
Siegel, S., & Domjan, M. (1971). Backward conditioning as an inhibitory procedure. Learning & Motivation, 2, 1–11.
Spetch, M. L., Wilkie, D. M., & Pinel, J. P. J. (1981). Backward conditioning: A reevaluation of the empirical evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 89, 163–175.
Spradlin, J. E., Cotter, V. W., & Baxley, N. (1973). Establishing a conditional discrimination without direct training: A study of transfer with retarded adolescents. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 77, 556–566.
Stoddard, L. T., & Sidman, M. (1971). The removal and restoration of stimulus control. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 16, 143–154.
Stromer, R., & Osborne, J. G. (1982). Control of adolescents’ arbitrary matching-to-sample by positive and negative stimulus relations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 329–348.
Tait, R. W., & Saladin, M. E. (1986). Concurrent development of excitatory and inhibitory associations during backward conditioning. Learning & Behavior, 14, 133–137.
Tedford, W. H., Jr., & Hazel, J. S. (1973). Stimulus location as a factor in associative symmetry. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 101, 189–190.
Tomonaga, M., Matsuzawa, T., Fujita, K., & Yamamoto, J. (1991). Emergence of symmetry in a visual conditional discrimination by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Psychological Reports, 68, 51–60.
Urcuioli, P. J. (2008). Associative symmetry, antisymmetry, and a theory of pigeons’ equivalence-class formation. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 90, 257–282.
Urcuioli, P. J., & DeMarse, T. B. (1997). Further tests of response-outcome associations in differential-outcome matching-to-sample. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 23, 171–182.
Urcuioli, P. J., & Honig, W. K. (1980). Control of choice in conditional discriminations by sample-specific behaviors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 6, 251–277.
Urcuioli, P. J., Michalek, S., & Lionello-DeNolf, K. M. (2006, November). The continuing search for symmetry in pigeons. Presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Houston.
Vaughan, W. (1988). Formation of equivalence sets in pigeons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 14, 36–42.
Wagner, A. R., & Terry, W. S. (1975). Backward conditioning to a CS following an expected vs. a surprising UCS. Learning & Behavior, 3, 370–374.
Weinstein, B. (1945). The evolution of intelligent behavior in rhesus monkeys. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 31, 3–48.
Wollen, K. A., Fox, R. A., & Lowry, D. H. (1970). Variations in asymmetry as a function of degree of forward learning. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 86, 416–419.
Yamamoto, J., & Asano, T. (1995). Stimulus equivalence in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Psychological Record, 45, 3–21.
Zentall, T. R., Edwards, C. A., Moore, B. S., & Hogan, D. E. (1981). Identity: The basis for both matching and oddity learning in pigeons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 7, 70–86.
Zentall, T. R., Sherburne, L. M., & Steirn, J. N. (1992). Development of excitatory backward associations during the establishment of forward associations in a delayed conditional discrimination by pigeons. Learning & Behavior, 20, 199–206.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Manuscript preparation was supported by Grants HD39816 and HD04147 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. An earlier version of this article was submitted to the faculty of Purdue University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the PhD degree. I thank Bill Dube, Harry MacKay, Peter Urcuioli, John Capaldi, Terry Davidson, and Jim Nairne—and especially Bill McIlvane—for their comments and insights.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lionello-DeNolf, K.M. The search for symmetry: 25 years in review. Learning & Behavior 37, 188–203 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3758/LB.37.2.188
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/LB.37.2.188