Relational Learning in Redundant-Oddity Tasks as a Function of Number of Identical Stimuli

Abstract

80 kindergarten children were given a redundant-oddity task with three or six stimuli, which could be solved by relational and absolute responding, and then given a probe task with three or six stimuli to assess which response had been learned. The subjects under the 6 (oddity) −6 (probe) condition responded perfectly in the relational manner whereas only 35% of the subjects under the 6–3 condition responded relationally. The extreme decrement in the number of relational learners suggests that the facilitation of oddity learning by increasing numbers of identical stimuli is not responsible for responding to the truly conceptual relation among stimuli but is for responding to the perceptual distinctiveness of stimuli.