Contingency descriptive texts as selector stimuli in matching-to-sample with humans

Abstract

Theree groups of four participants were exposed to a second-order matching-to-sample task, followed by intramodal, extramodal, and extradimensional transfer tests. For each group, selector stimuli were geometric shapes, a text specifying the relevant matching modalities, or a text specifying the general matching criteria. The performance during training was better with texts as selector stimuli, especially when they specified the relevant matching modalities. In the transfer tests, accuracy of performance was proportional to the functional complexity of the selector stimuli. Results are discussed in relation to similar experiments, highlighting the functional differences between the possible manners to identify the matching criteria under selector stimuli.