Urcuioli Peter J
Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, 703 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Behav Processes. 2010 Oct;85(3):226-35. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2010.07.012. Epub 2010 Aug 11.
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, pigeons learned three pair-comparison tasks in which left versus right spatial choices were reinforced after the various sample-comparison combinations comprising AB, AA, and BB conditional discriminations. Non-differentially reinforced BA probe trials following acquisition showed some indication of symmetrical choice responding. The overall results contradict the theoretical predictions derived from Urcuioli (2008) and those from Experiment 2 challenge other stimulus-class analyses as well.
两项实验检验了乌尔乔利（2008）鸽子等价类形成理论的假设，即连续匹配中某些刺激组合持续不强化，而其他组合持续强化，会产生包含强化组合元素的刺激类。在实验1中，鸽子同时接受符号（AB）和两个同一性（AA和BB）连续任务的训练，其中所有同一性试验的一半以不强化结束，但所有AB试验都根据对比较刺激的反应与否进行强化。随后的对称性（BA）探测试验显示，四只鸽子中有一只出现了对称性证据。在实验2中，鸽子学习了三个配对比较任务，在由AB、AA和BB条件辨别组成的各种样本-比较组合后，对左右空间选择进行强化。习得后的非差异强化BA探测试验显示出一些对称选择反应的迹象。总体结果与乌尔乔利（2008）得出的理论预测相矛盾，实验2的结果也对其他刺激类分析提出了挑战。
