Derived Relations and Meaning in Responding to Art.

The Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges may have come closer than anyone else to envisioning a radical behavioristic aesthetics. What he said about poetry can be generalized to other art forms: that poetry happens when someone reads a poem. Art, therefore, is the behavioral episode in which someone responds to the stimuli arranged by the artist. Because each person that comes into contact with a work of art has a different history with the work and its elements, responding will vary widely for persons and for the same person at different times. An essential feature of this history is the network of derived relations involving the elements of the artwork, and the transfer and transformation of behavioral functions across this network.

Hierarchical Classification from Relational Frame Theory: A Review

Hierarchical classification is of tremendous interest to both basic and applied research. This review explores hierarchical classification empirical studies from Relational Frame Theory (RFT). We identified 11 empirical articles that met inclusion criteria (demonstrated hierarchical responding in children or adults with an RFT theoretical approach). The objective of this qualitative systematic review is to offer both researchers and practitioners a solid and comprehensive view of types of protocols used from an RFT approach in establishing and analyzing hierarchical classification. Limitations and possible future research is discussed (AU)

A derived transformation of emotional functions using self-reports, implicit association tests, and frontal alpha asymmetries.

Research on the derived transformation of stimulus functions (ToF) typically employs single dependent measures for assessing the stimulus functions after derived relations have been established. For the first time, we examined ToF using three dependent measures both prior to and after relational training and testing. Specifically, we employed self-reports, implicit association tests, and frontal alpha asymmetry as pre versus post measures for assessing ToF. First, we trained two abstract shapes as contextual cues for happier-than and unhappier-than relations, respectively. Next, four conditional discriminations (A+/B-, B+/C-, C+/D-, and D+/E-) were trained in the presence of the happier-than cue only, where A, B, C, D, and E were blurred faces. This was followed by tests for contextually controlled transitive inference (TI) in the presence of both the happier-than and unhappier-than cues. For the participants who demonstrated TI, performance across all three measures following relational training and testing indicated that the "happiness" functions of the A/B stimuli were greater than those of the D/E stimuli. This constitutes the first known demonstration of emotional ToF along explicit, implicit, and neurophysiological measures concurrently.

Efectos de Diferentes Condiciones de Retroalimentación Sobre la Transformación de Funciones / Efeitos de Diferentes Condições de Retroalimentação sobre a Transformação de Funções / Effects of Different Feedback Conditions on the Transformation of Functions

Este estudio evalúa el efecto de la retroalimentación en el desarrollo de la transformación de funciones en relaciones formales y arbitrarias entre estímulos, mediante una réplica de la investigación de Tonneau, Arreola y Martínez (2006), con 21 participantes y mediante tres condiciones experimentales: (a) relación formal entre estímulos sin retroalimentación, (b) relación arbitraria entre estímulos sin retroalimentación y (c) relación arbitraria entre estímulos con retroalimentación. Las condiciones a y b no replicaron los hallazgos del estudio citado y no se diferenciaron claramente del desempeño del tercer grupo. Se discute que en las condiciones de estudio del comportamiento simbólico no son suficientes las relaciones espaciotemporales entre los estímulos, la retroalimentación y el requerimiento de una respuesta.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of feedback on the transformation of functions in formal and arbitrary relations among stimuli, through a replication of the study carried out by Tonneau, Arreola, and Martínez (2006). 21 participants were assigned to three experimental conditions: (a) formal relationships among stimuli without feedback, (b) arbitrary relationships among stimuli without feedback, and (c) arbitrary relationships among stimuli with feedback. The results of conditions a and b did not replicate the results of the above-mentioned study and were not clearly differentiated from the performance of the third group. These results suggest that spatiotemporal relations among stimuli, feedback and response request are not sufficient conditions for the study of symbolic behavior.

Este estudo avalia o efeito da retroalimentação no desenvolvimento da transformação de funções em relações formais e arbitrárias entre estímulos, mediante uma réplica da pesquisa de Tonneau, Arreola e Martínez (2006), com 21 participantes e mediante três condições experimentais: (a) relação formal entre estímulos sem retroalimentação; (b) relação arbitrária entre estímulos sem retroalimentação e (c) relação arbitrária entre estímulos com retroalimentação. As condições a e b não repetiram as descobertas do estudo citado e não se diferenciaram claramente do desempenho do terceiro grupo. Discute-se que, nas condições de estudo do comportamento simbólico, não são suficientes as relações espaço-temporais entre os estímulos, a retroalimentação e o requerimento de uma resposta.

Transformación de funciones: Marcos de coordinación y oposición de acuerdo con equivalencia / Function transformation: Frames of coordination and opposition in equivalence relations

Esta investigación responde al interés por la dificultad que a veces tienen los sujetos para "cambiar" o "transformar" sus patrones de comportamiento. Investigaciones y teorías recientes desde el campo del análisis experimental del comportamiento y, más concretamente, desde una perspectiva de la Teoría de los Marcos Relacionales (RFT), abordan dicho fenómeno de una manera funcional y contextual. Desde este marco conceptual, el objetivo de este trabajo es establecer una historia experimental necesaria para generar repertorios de respuesta relacional de simetría y equivalencia en el marco de coordinación, y ver cómo son transformadas las funciones a un marco de oposición con base en las consecuencias que reciben los sujetos. Para ello, se diseñó y llevó a cabo un primer estudio cuyos resultados condujeron a variaciones en el procedimiento, lo que supuso la realización de un segundo experimento. La muestra estuvo compuesta de 16 sujetos, 7 en el primer experimento (5 mujeres y 2 hombres) y 9 en el segundo experimento (6 mujeres y 3 hombres) con edades comprendidas entre 20 y 40 años, quienes debían realizar una tarea de igualación a la muestra. Dicha tarea estuvo compuesta por dos fases y una evaluación final de las relaciones derivadas. La variable dependiente se definió como la ejecución del sujeto (número de ensayos) y la variable independiente como la introducción de imágenes aversivas y agradables en pro de la transformación de funciones. Finalmente, se discuten los datos intra e inter sujeto de los experimentos y algunas implicaciones prácticas.

This research is motivated by our interest in the difficulty that individuals show when trying to "change" or "convert" their behavioral patterns. Recent research and theories developed inside the experimental analysis of behavior, specifically from a Relational Framework Theory (RFT), expose that phenomenon from a functional-contextual way. From this conceptual frame, the purpose of this paper is to establish the experimental history needed to develop sets of symmetry relational responses and equivalence in the frames of sameness, and show the way the functions are transformed into a frame of opposition based upon the consequences that individuals receive. In order to achieve this goal, a first study was designed and carried out. The results obtained from this study led to several variations in the procedure and a second experiment was held. The sample was composed by 16 participants, ages between 20 and 40 who had to execute a matching-to-sample task. 7 individuals were used for the first experiment (5 females and 2 males) and 9 for the second (6 females and 3 males). The task was composed by two phases and a final evaluation of the derived relations. The dependent variable was defined as the execution of the individual (number of trials) and the independent variable as the introduction of aversive and pleasant pictures. Finally, the data obtained from both experiments is discussed intra e inter individual and some practical implications are outlined.

Derived transformation of children's pregambling game playing.

Contemporary behavior-analytic perspectives on gambling emphasize the impact of verbal relations, or derived relational responding and the transformation of stimulus functions, on the initiation and maintenance of gambling. Approached in this way, it is possible to undertake experimental analysis of the role of verbal/mediational variables in gambling behavior. The present study therefore sought to demonstrate the ways new stimuli could come to have functions relevant to gambling without those functions being trained directly. Following a successful derived-equivalence-relations test, a simulated board game established high- and low-roll functions for two concurrently presented dice labelled with members of the derived relations. During the test for derived transformation, children were reexposed to the board game with dice labelled with indirectly related stimuli. All participants except 1 who passed the equivalence relations test selected the die that was indirectly related to the trained high-roll die more often than the die that was indirectly related to low-roll die, despite the absence of differential outcomes. All participants except 3 also gave the derived high-roll die higher liking ratings than the derived low-roll die. The implications of the findings for behavior-analytic research on gambling and the development of verbally-based interventions for disordered gambling are discussed.