A computational model of the equivalence class formation psychological phenomenon (original) (raw)

A Neurocomputational Approach to Trained and Transitive Relations in Equivalence Classes

Frontiers in psychology, 2017

A stimulus class can be composed of perceptually different but functionally equivalent stimuli. The relations between the stimuli that are grouped in a class can be learned or derived from other stimulus relations. If stimulus A is equivalent to B, and B is equivalent to C, then the equivalence between A and C can be derived without explicit training. In this work we propose, with a neurocomputational model, a basic learning mechanism for the formation of equivalence. We also describe how the relatedness between the members of an equivalence class is developed for both trained and derived stimulus relations. Three classic studies on stimulus equivalence are simulated covering typical and atypical populations as well as nodal distance effects. This model shows a mechanism by which certain stimulus associations are selectively strengthened even when they are not co-presented in the environment. This model links the field of equivalence classes to accounts of Hebbian learning and categ...

Differences of Training Structures on Stimulus Class Formation in Computational Agents

Multimodal Technologies and Interaction

Stimulus Equivalence (SE) is a behavioural phenomenon in which organisms respond functionally to stimuli without explicit training. SE provides a framework in the experimental analysis of behaviour to study language, symbolic behaviour, and cognition. It is also a frequently discussed matter in interdisciplinary research, linking behaviour analysis with linguistics and neuroscience. Previous research has attempted to replicate SE with computational agents, mostly based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models. The aim of this paper was to analyse the effect of three Training Structures (TSs) on stimulus class formation in a simulation with ANNs as computational agents performing a classification task, in a matching-to-sample procedure. Twelve simulations were carried out as a product of the implementation of four ANN architectures on the three TSs. SE was not achieved, but two agents showed an emergent response on half of the transitivity test pairs on linear sequence TSs and refle...