Temporal relational responding : nodal and training effects using ‘before’ and ‘after’ contextual cues
Authors
Donovan, Jennifer
Issue Date
2016
Degree
Higher Diploma in Arts in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Items in Esource are protected by copyright. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/copyright holder.
Abstract
In the first part of this experiment a five term post-class formation temporal sequence was brought under the control of arbitrary contextual cues for “Before” and “After”. Nodal distance effects and temporal order judgement effects on response latencies for participants (N=15) were investigated. Response latencies were significantly faster for “Before” relations relative to “After” relations for the known temporal sequence. Significant nodal effects on response latencies were also recorded. In the second part of the experiment, differential training histories, based on the learned contextual cues for “Before” and “After”, were then used to establish temporal relations within an arbitrary 5-term linear chain of nonsense syllables to investigate training effects, nodal distance effects and temporal order judgement effects on arbitrary applicable relational responding for participants (N=10). No significant effects were recorded for the arbitrary sequence of nonsense syllables. The implications of these findings for current theories of relational responding are considered.