Abstract

AVILA SANTIBANEZ, Raúl; GARCIA GARCIA, Andrés; GUTIERREZ DOMINGUEZ, María Teresa  and  CAMPOS GONZALEZ, Karla Denisse. Chained Conditional Discriminations with Pictures and Written Words in Participants of Different Age. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2021, vol.11, n.2, pp.39-52.  Epub Feb 14, 2022. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2021.2.381.

The viability of the chained-conditional-discrimination procedure for the acquisition of conditional discriminations and their derived relations was evaluated in participants of three different age groups. At the start of a trial, a sample stimulus (A) and four comparison stimuli (B) were presented. Choosing the correct comparison stimulus (B) resulted in the presentation of this one as a sample stimulus with other four comparison stimuli (C). Correct choices of comparison stimuli B and C were followed by a positive outcome. On the other hand, incorrect choices of either stimuli B or C resulted in the restart of the trial with the presentation of the first sample stimulus (A). The sample and comparison stimuli were images or names of painters (A), their respective countries of origin (B), and their paintings (C). Preliminary tests of familiarity with the stimuli were conducted to determine if the participants were familiar with the sample and comparison stimuli; if this was the case, participants were discarded from the study. Afterwards, participants were exposed to the chained-conditional-discrimination procedure in which they worked until they had obtained 20 consecutive correct trials, or until 80 total trials had been presented. The participants that reached the acquisition criteria (i.e., 20 consecutive correct trials) were exposed to the derived-relations tests of reflexivity, symmetry, transitivity and equivalence. In general, regardless of the age and the type of stimuli, all participants reached the acquisition requirement of the conditional discriminations and showed the derived relations. It was found that the participants acquired the conditional discriminations and the derived relationships relatively faster with images than with written words as stimuli; the results suggest a relationship between age and the type of stimuli. These findings are relevant to the literature on the contribution of sample or comparison meaningful stimuli in conditional discrimination procedures. In addition, these results support the viability of the chained-conditional-discrimination procedure to acquire conditional discriminations and derived relations among stimuli.

Keywords : Chained-conditional discrimination; Derived relations; Age groups; Humans.

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