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Self-verbalized rules facilitate
transfer learning in extramodal and extrarelational higher-order testing Martha Pelaez and Raphael Moreno Florida International University and Universidad de Sevilla, USA and Spain A more complex phenomenon now investigated by behavior scientists is the study of higher-order transfer of conceptual or rule learning through the use of second-order conditional discrimination procedures (e.g, Fujita, 1983; Ribes, Moreno, & Martinez, 1995; 1998). The use of this second-order matching-to sample procedure makes it possible to identify more or less abstract levels of conceptual or rule-governed performance when new colors, shapes, sizes, orientation and relations of stimuli are introduced in a transfer testing phase. Testing can be done at the intramodal, extramodal and extrarelational levels of transfer. The results of two experiments will be reported. In the first experiment, 78 students were assigned to one of four groups. The experimental task consisted of a second-order conditional discrimination employing a matching to sample training phase followed by a testing phase assessing for extramodal and extrarelational transfer. Subjects in Groups 1 and 2 were asked to write down a description of the rule that they had been using for their choices during training (but not subjects in Groups 3 and 4). The results confirmed that correct self-descriptions are associated to correct performance, although this performance is not a sufficient condition to describe correctly. In the second experiment, fifty four undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Group I (N=26, experimental group), and Group II (N=28, control group). We examined whether subjects are able to transfer the contingent relations learned (i.e., sameness and difference of stimuli dimensions) in a training to a testing phase, even after the experimenter has given them an inaccurate rule to follow in the testing phase. Results suggest that inaccurate rules provided by an experimenter do not seem to disrupt transfer of learning when the subjects are able to verbalize (write) the contingent relations experienced during training. Keywords: rule-governed behavior, rules, transfer learning, verbal behavior, instructions |
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