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Associative Symmetry And Stimulus-Class Formation By Pigeons: The Role Of Non-Reinforced Baseline Relations, Peter J. Urcuioli

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

Two experiments tested the assumption of Urcuioli’s (2008) theory of pigeons’ equivalence-class formation that consistent non-reinforcement of certain stimulus combinations in successive matching juxtaposed with consistent reinforcement of other combinations generates stimulus classes containing the elements of the reinforced combinations. In Experiment 1, pigeons were concurrently trained on symbolic (AB) and two identity (AA and BB) successive tasks in which half of all identity trials ended in non-reinforcement but all AB trials were reinforced, contingent upon either responding or not-responding to the comparisons. Subsequent symmetry (BA) probe trials showed evidence of symmetry in one of four pigeons. In Experiment 2, …