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Fading procedures and oddity learning in kindergarten children
JOURNAL
OF EXPERIMENTAL
Fading
CHILD
17, 313-321
PSYCHOLOGY
Procedures and in Kindergarten THOMAS
Oddity Children
(1974)
Learning
CHENEY’ of Georgia
University
AND NORMAN Syracuse
STEIN University
The effectiveness of three fading and two nonfading procedures were compared in training kindergarten children on an oddity problem in which shape was the relevant dimension. The fading procedures employed supplementary cues which were gradually eliminated during training. The cues included either saturating the odd stimulus with a red color, saturating the nonodd stimuli with a red color, or varying the degree of illumination of the nonodd stimuli. One nonfading group received training on a structurally simpler oddity problem prior to transfer to a more complex oddity problem, and a second nonfading group received the standard oddity training procedure. While significant differences in acquisition were not obtained between training groups, the oddity task performance and the results from a test of dimensional observation revealed that the fading procedures were differentially effective in transferring 5’s observation from the dimension of the fading cue to that relevant for solution of the oddity problem.
The fading procedure has been used effectively to minimize errors in the learning of a variety of simple discrimination problems with normal (e.g., Moore & Goldiamond, 1964) and retarded (e.g., Sidman & Stoddard, 1967) Ss. Essentially, the fading procedure has involved supplementing the stimulus array with a highly salient cue which maximizes attention to the correct (S+ ) or incorrect (S- ) stimulus. During training the salient cue is gradually removed, transferring control to the relevant dimension of the discriminative stimuli. Possible limitations of the fading procedure were suggested by Gollin and Savoy (1968)) who compared the performance of children on a condi1 Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas Cheney, Department chology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601. 313
Copyright @ 1974 by Academic Press, Inc. AI1 rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
of PST-
314
CHENEY
AND
STEIN
tional discrimination problem involving cue-background combinations which had been presented during prior original and reversal learning tasks which used either a fading or a nonfading training procedure. While more Ss in the fading groups were trained without errors during the original and reversal tasks, significantly more Ss in the nonfading groups learned the conditional discrimination without errors. This suggested that fading may have so narrowed Ss’ observation to those properties of the stimuli present during the earlier parts of training that the emerging properties of the stimuli, important in the conditional problem, were not adequately observed. Thus, the fading procedure interacted with the demands and structure of the task in determining the direction of S’s attention and the quality of learning obtained. When the fading procedure fosters attention to the relevant task cues and demands, learning should be facilitated. Gollin and Schadler (1972) showed that learning an oddity problem can be facilitated by enhancing the salience of the odd cue by initially including additional nonodd cues to the stimulus array and gradually eliminating their presence during training. The present experiment examined the effects of fading procedures designed to heighten the perceptual salience of either the S+ or S- in an oddity learning task. This was compared with a standard nonfading training procedure and a procedure in which the oddity problem was preceded by training on a simpler oddity task. METHOD Subjects
The Xs were 70 kindergarten children, half girls and half boys, from a public elementary school. The mean age of the boys was 5.9 years (SD = .31) and 6.0 years (SD = .44) for the girls. Half of the sample attended school in the morning and lived in rural areas while the other half attended school in the afternoon and resided in a village. Apparatus The S sat in front of a 36 X 48-in. vertical panel with three 4 in.a frosted glass windows situated along the lower half. A response button was located 1 in. beneath the center of each window. A button press automatically turned off the stimulus lights and a correct response also activated a low-toned bell. The stimuli in the oddity problem consisted of randomly determined binary combinations of 1.5 in. or 2.0 in. squares, circles, and triangles. They were inserted in glass enclosures located directly behind the windows and were transilluminated by a bulb behind
FADING
each window, Gradations of selected color bulbs and the
AND
ODDITY
315
LEARNING
projecting an image of the stimulus onto the frosted glass. red color, used during fading, were produced by inserting filters in the glass enclosures between the illuminating stimulus figures.*
Procedure Each S was seated facing the apparatus and told by the E: This is a game which you win by making the bell ring. These are the buttons (pointing). Each window has its own button. The light will come on in the windows. You are to make the bell ring by pressing the button under the correct window. The stimuli were then illuminated and S received the first of two pretraining trials. The stimuli employed during the pretraining trials were similar to those presented on the first training trial. Before each pretraining trial S was instructed, “Press the button which will make the bell ring.” Each pretraining trial ended with E saying, ‘(See, the button for this window rings the bell, but the buttons for this and this window do not (pointing) .” Then E stepped behind the apparatus, out of S’s vision, and the training and test trials were administered. After the stimuli were presented on each trial, S was instructed, “Press the one that will make the bell ring.” Following incorrect responses, the next array was presented. If a correct choice occurred, the bell sounded and E said, “Very good, you won the game” or “very good, you made the bell ring.” A 15-set intertrial interval was used. In each condition, after pretraining Ss received a total of 30 trials. For each group, the correct response was to the stimulus which was odd along the dimensions of shape. During pretraining trials, Ss in group FS+ were presented with the odd stimulus (S+ ) colored red, while the Snonodd stimuli appeared white. During the course of 15 training trials, the red color saturation of S+ was gradually reduced such that beginning with the first of 15 test trials S+ and S- were both white and differed systematically only along the dimension of shape. For Group FS- , the pretraining S+ was white and the S- stimuli were red. During the subsequent 15 training trials the red color saturation of the S- stimuli was gradually reduced and, beinnning with the first of 15 test trials, all stimuli were white. The Ss in Group FBSwere presented during pretraining with only one white stimulus form, which constituted the S + . *Manufacturer from Thomas
and Cheney.
stock
numbers
of
color
filters
may
be obtained
on
request
316
CHENEY
AND
STEIN
During the 15 training trials the illuminat’ion of the S- stimuli was gradually increased to the level of S+ and, beginning with the first of 15 test trials, S + and S- remained at, equal brightness. The Xs in Group S-C were presented during pretraining and training with a simpler oddity task in which all stimuli were of equal 1.5 in. size. On test trials, these Ss were administered the more complex oddity problem in which stimuli varied along the dimension of size (1.5 in. and 2.0 in.) as well as shape. Group C was presented during pretraining, training, and test trials with the complex oddity problem. A conventional training procedure was used throughout, in which S+ and S- remained white in appearance. For statistical purposes, the first 15 trials were designated as training trials and the last 15 were designated as test trials. Thus, while each group received different stimuli during training, all groups received the same complex oddity problem during the test trials. Following the test trials, all Ss were administered a task designed to assess whether differing response tendencies to the stimulus dimensions (shape, size, or color) had resulted from the experimental procedures. The assessment task consisted of six cards, each containing a stimulus array of the complex oddity problem. Prior to presentation of each card, S was told to point to the form which would make the bell ring. For Groups FBS-, S-C, and C all stimuli were outlined in black and presented on a white surface. An oddity relation was presented for shape and size, with a different stimulus member odd for each of these dimensions. For Groups FS+ and FSthe dimension of color was added to the array since this had been present throughout training. In Group FS+, two stimuli were white and the third stimulus appeared red. The stimuli were constituted in such a manner that a different member of the array was odd for either shape, size, or color. For Group FS- , two stimuli appeared red and the third st’imulus was white. Again, for each presentation, a different member of the array was odd for either shape, size, or color. By constructing the task in this fashion the stimulus propert,ies corresponded to those which were present during training for a given group. By assigning the odd stimulus of each of the dimensions to a different member of the array, it was possible to assess which, if any, dimension was consistently controlling the responses of each S. RESULTS
Table 1 summarizes the analysis of variance performed on t’he number of correct responsesper block of five trials for the training and test phases. The analysis indicated that the main effects for Training Procedure (p < .05), Sex (p < .Ol i , and Blocks of Trials (p < .OOl) were significant, However, the sex factor, with girls (mean = 22.5) producing
FADING
AND
ODDITY
TABLE
ANALYSIS
OF
AND
TRaINING TRIALS
69
1
(T)
Within Ss Trial blocks (B)
7.so**
2.19
4
20.23 .65 11.55 2.38 1.2s 6.86
2.95*
35.23 .41 .34 5.23 .23 1.15 1.66 1.06
38.37***
4 4 4 50
S within group error
53.46
1 1
RXT SXRXT
1.68
350
5
BxS
5
BXR BXT BXRXS BxSxT BXRXT BXRXSXT B X S within-group
1
VARIANCE FOR BLOCKS OF TEST
Between Ss Sex (s) Residence (R) Training procedure SXR SxT
317
LEARNING
error
2: 5 20 20 20 250
5.69*** 1.25 1.81* 1.15
.92
*p < .05. **p < .Ol. *** p < .OOl.
more correct responsesthan boys (mean = 18.4)) was the only significant main effect not qualified by interactions. The Blocks X Training Procedure (p < .OOl) and Blocks X Residence X Training Procedure (p < .05) interactions were both significant. An analysis of simple interaction effects (Kirk, 1968, p. 22) testing the Blocks X Treatment Procedure interaction at each level of the Residence factor, indicated that the Training Procedure significantly interacted with Blocks of Trials for village F(120,300) = 2.71, p < .Ol but not for rural Ss. The left panel of Figure 1 shows the Blocks X Training Procedure interaction for village Ss while the performance of rural Ss is depicted in the right panel. As shown, for village Ss the change in the effect of training over trials occurred predominantly with the three fading groups. When the fading cue was no longer present, the level of performance sharply declined. The conclusion that the fading and nonfading procedures did not result in differential performance on the oddity task is further supported by a Sex X Residence X Training Procedure analysis of variance performed on total correct responsesduring the test trials. While the main
318
CHENEY
Ah-D
STEIN
RURAL
BLOCKS
test
FIG. 1. Percentage trials.
of correct
responses
OF 15 TRIALS
of village
and
rural
h’s during
training
and
effect for training procedure approached significance F(4,50) = 2.19, p < .lO, the only clearly significant result was the main effect for Sex, F&50) = 5.22, p < .05. Although the fading and nonfading procedures did not reliably affect oddity performance, the results from the dimensional preference task indicated that the training procedures were associated with different patterns of stimulus observation. In the dimensional preference task, on each trial one member was odd for shape while another was odd for size. In addition, for Groups FS+ and FS- a third member of the stimulus array was also odd with regard to color (red). A S was classified as demonstrating a reliable preference if the S chose an odd member for the same stimulus dimension on at least four of the six assessment trials. Results indicated that while 93 and 86% of the Ss in Groups FS+ and FS-, respectively, displayed a preference, only 36% in Group FBS-, 50% in Group S-C, and 29% in Group C exhibited a preference. In each instance, however, the expressed preference in these latter three groups was for the dimension of shape. This is in contrast to Group FS + , in which only 14% of the Ss preferred the dimension of shape and 79% preferred the color. In comparison, 50% of the Ss in Group FS- preferred the dimension of shape and only 29% preferred the color. This suggested that supplementing the S- stimuli with the color fading cue fostered transfer of observation to the relevant dimension of shape to a greater degree than supplementing the S+ stimulus with the color fading cue. This conclusion is further supported by the correlations, presented in Table 2, between responding during training, testing, and the dimensional
FADING
AND
ODDITY
TABLE CORREL.4TIONS BETWEEN AND PERFORMANCE
319
LEARNING
2
DIMENSIONAL OBSERVATION TASK SCORES DURING TRAINING AND TEST TRIALS"
Dimension Training
procedure trials
Shape
size
- .78** .66**
-.37 .33
- .15 .25
- .56* - .51
Other
FS+ Training Test FSTraining Test FBSTraining Test s-c Training Test C Training Test
-
.81*** 70** .40 .03
.Ol .41
-.03 -.41
.02 -.33
.62* .64*
- .65* - .60*
- .54* - .60*
.84*** 83***
- .68** - .65*
- .75** - .75**
D For Group FS + and FS - , Other refers to stimulus of red color. For Groups FBSS-C, and C, Other refers to the nonodd stimulus. *p < .05. **p < .Ol. *** p < .OOl.
observation task. Groups S-C and C, which received no supplementary cue during training, showed a consistent pattern in which responding to the shape dimension during the assessmenttask was positively related to performance during both training and test trials. The correlations for Group FS+ , however, indicate that these Ss tended to respond throughout the study either on the basis of color or shape. Ss who responded on the basis of color, as indicated by performance on the observational task, performed well during the training phase when the color cue was available, but poorly during test trials when the color cue was absent. Ss who responded on the basis of shape tended to perform poorly during training but well during test trials. The magnitude of these correlations indicated that supplementing S+ with the color cue did not lead to transfer from the color to the relevant shape dimension among Ss who were not initially responding on the basis of shape. In Group FS- , however, where S- was marked by the supplementary cue, such high correlations did not emerge, indicating that greater transfer of observation from the color to shape dimension did occur.
320
CHENET
,4ND
STEIN
DISCUSSION
In contrast to previous research which employed fading to effectively train children on a variety of simple discrimination problems (e.g., Moore & Goldiamond, 3964; Powers, Cheney & Agostino, 1970; Sidman 8~Stoddard, 1967; Touchette, 1968)) the fading procedures of the present study were not significantly more effective than a standard (nonfading) procedure in training children on a relational learning task. While it is possible that the relative ineffectiveness of fading was due to supplementary cue changes which were too abrupt, it should be noted that the stimulus materials used in the present study were similar to those used in the fading procedure of an earlier study which successfully trained children in a simple color discrimination (Powers et al., 1970). The failure of the fading procedures to produce improved learning compared with nonfading procedures is consistent with the general findings of Gollin and Savoy (1968). In both the present as well as this earlier study, successful performance on the learning task required Xs to attend to more than one aspect or dimension of the stimulus array. If the attention of Ss in the fading groups narrowed to the dimension of the supplementary cue early in oddity training, as Gollin and Savoy observed in their study, then these Ss would be expected to show superior performance during training trials but inferior performance during test trials in comparison with the control groups. This pattern of results was, in fact, obtained. It was further indicated by the present findings that the degree to which fading procedures foster transfer of observation to the relevant task dimension depends on the physical qualities of the supplementary cue. Superimposition of the color cue on S+ led to less transfer of observation than superimposition of the S- stimuli. Such a finding is consistent with previous research by Saravo, Bagby and Haskins (1970) who concluded that children rely more on the negative than the positive stimulus in oddity transfer. Progressive and prominent changes in those stimuli which are a primary focus of Ss’ observation may have facilitated transfer from the color to the shape dimension. REFERENCES E. S., Rr children. Journal
P. Fading procedures and conditional discrimination in of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 19f%, 11, 44%451. GOLLIN, E. S., & SCHADLER, M. Relational learning and transfer by young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1972, 14, 219-232. KIRK, R. E. Experimental design: Procedures for the behavioral sciences. Belmont, California: Brooks-Cole, 1968. MOORE, R., & G~LDIAMOND, I. Errorless establishment of a visual discrimination using GOLLIN,
SAVOY,
FADING
AND
ODDITY
LEARNING
321
fading procedures. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1964, 7, 269-272. POWERS, R. B., CHENEY, C. C., Cst AGOSTINO, N. R. Errorless training of a visual discrimination in preschool children. The Psychological Record, 1970, 20, 4650. SARAVO. A., B.GsY, B., & HASKINS, K. Transfer effects in children’s oddity learning. Developmental Psychology, 1970, 2, 273-282. SIDMAN, M., & STODDARD, L. T. The effectiveness of fading in programming a simultaneous form discrimination for retarded children. JOUW& of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1967, 10, 3-15. TOUCHETTE, P. E. The effects of a graduated stimulus change on the acquisition of a simple discrimination in severely retarded boys. Joccrrlrtl of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1968, 11, 39-48.
OF EXPERIMENTAL
Fading
CHILD
17, 313-321
PSYCHOLOGY
Procedures and in Kindergarten THOMAS
Oddity Children
(1974)
Learning
CHENEY’ of Georgia
University
AND NORMAN Syracuse
STEIN University
The effectiveness of three fading and two nonfading procedures were compared in training kindergarten children on an oddity problem in which shape was the relevant dimension. The fading procedures employed supplementary cues which were gradually eliminated during training. The cues included either saturating the odd stimulus with a red color, saturating the nonodd stimuli with a red color, or varying the degree of illumination of the nonodd stimuli. One nonfading group received training on a structurally simpler oddity problem prior to transfer to a more complex oddity problem, and a second nonfading group received the standard oddity training procedure. While significant differences in acquisition were not obtained between training groups, the oddity task performance and the results from a test of dimensional observation revealed that the fading procedures were differentially effective in transferring 5’s observation from the dimension of the fading cue to that relevant for solution of the oddity problem.
The fading procedure has been used effectively to minimize errors in the learning of a variety of simple discrimination problems with normal (e.g., Moore & Goldiamond, 1964) and retarded (e.g., Sidman & Stoddard, 1967) Ss. Essentially, the fading procedure has involved supplementing the stimulus array with a highly salient cue which maximizes attention to the correct (S+ ) or incorrect (S- ) stimulus. During training the salient cue is gradually removed, transferring control to the relevant dimension of the discriminative stimuli. Possible limitations of the fading procedure were suggested by Gollin and Savoy (1968)) who compared the performance of children on a condi1 Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas Cheney, Department chology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601. 313
Copyright @ 1974 by Academic Press, Inc. AI1 rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
of PST-
314
CHENEY
AND
STEIN
tional discrimination problem involving cue-background combinations which had been presented during prior original and reversal learning tasks which used either a fading or a nonfading training procedure. While more Ss in the fading groups were trained without errors during the original and reversal tasks, significantly more Ss in the nonfading groups learned the conditional discrimination without errors. This suggested that fading may have so narrowed Ss’ observation to those properties of the stimuli present during the earlier parts of training that the emerging properties of the stimuli, important in the conditional problem, were not adequately observed. Thus, the fading procedure interacted with the demands and structure of the task in determining the direction of S’s attention and the quality of learning obtained. When the fading procedure fosters attention to the relevant task cues and demands, learning should be facilitated. Gollin and Schadler (1972) showed that learning an oddity problem can be facilitated by enhancing the salience of the odd cue by initially including additional nonodd cues to the stimulus array and gradually eliminating their presence during training. The present experiment examined the effects of fading procedures designed to heighten the perceptual salience of either the S+ or S- in an oddity learning task. This was compared with a standard nonfading training procedure and a procedure in which the oddity problem was preceded by training on a simpler oddity task. METHOD Subjects
The Xs were 70 kindergarten children, half girls and half boys, from a public elementary school. The mean age of the boys was 5.9 years (SD = .31) and 6.0 years (SD = .44) for the girls. Half of the sample attended school in the morning and lived in rural areas while the other half attended school in the afternoon and resided in a village. Apparatus The S sat in front of a 36 X 48-in. vertical panel with three 4 in.a frosted glass windows situated along the lower half. A response button was located 1 in. beneath the center of each window. A button press automatically turned off the stimulus lights and a correct response also activated a low-toned bell. The stimuli in the oddity problem consisted of randomly determined binary combinations of 1.5 in. or 2.0 in. squares, circles, and triangles. They were inserted in glass enclosures located directly behind the windows and were transilluminated by a bulb behind
FADING
each window, Gradations of selected color bulbs and the
AND
ODDITY
315
LEARNING
projecting an image of the stimulus onto the frosted glass. red color, used during fading, were produced by inserting filters in the glass enclosures between the illuminating stimulus figures.*
Procedure Each S was seated facing the apparatus and told by the E: This is a game which you win by making the bell ring. These are the buttons (pointing). Each window has its own button. The light will come on in the windows. You are to make the bell ring by pressing the button under the correct window. The stimuli were then illuminated and S received the first of two pretraining trials. The stimuli employed during the pretraining trials were similar to those presented on the first training trial. Before each pretraining trial S was instructed, “Press the button which will make the bell ring.” Each pretraining trial ended with E saying, ‘(See, the button for this window rings the bell, but the buttons for this and this window do not (pointing) .” Then E stepped behind the apparatus, out of S’s vision, and the training and test trials were administered. After the stimuli were presented on each trial, S was instructed, “Press the one that will make the bell ring.” Following incorrect responses, the next array was presented. If a correct choice occurred, the bell sounded and E said, “Very good, you won the game” or “very good, you made the bell ring.” A 15-set intertrial interval was used. In each condition, after pretraining Ss received a total of 30 trials. For each group, the correct response was to the stimulus which was odd along the dimensions of shape. During pretraining trials, Ss in group FS+ were presented with the odd stimulus (S+ ) colored red, while the Snonodd stimuli appeared white. During the course of 15 training trials, the red color saturation of S+ was gradually reduced such that beginning with the first of 15 test trials S+ and S- were both white and differed systematically only along the dimension of shape. For Group FS- , the pretraining S+ was white and the S- stimuli were red. During the subsequent 15 training trials the red color saturation of the S- stimuli was gradually reduced and, beinnning with the first of 15 test trials, all stimuli were white. The Ss in Group FBSwere presented during pretraining with only one white stimulus form, which constituted the S + . *Manufacturer from Thomas
and Cheney.
stock
numbers
of
color
filters
may
be obtained
on
request
316
CHENEY
AND
STEIN
During the 15 training trials the illuminat’ion of the S- stimuli was gradually increased to the level of S+ and, beginning with the first of 15 test trials, S + and S- remained at, equal brightness. The Xs in Group S-C were presented during pretraining and training with a simpler oddity task in which all stimuli were of equal 1.5 in. size. On test trials, these Ss were administered the more complex oddity problem in which stimuli varied along the dimension of size (1.5 in. and 2.0 in.) as well as shape. Group C was presented during pretraining, training, and test trials with the complex oddity problem. A conventional training procedure was used throughout, in which S+ and S- remained white in appearance. For statistical purposes, the first 15 trials were designated as training trials and the last 15 were designated as test trials. Thus, while each group received different stimuli during training, all groups received the same complex oddity problem during the test trials. Following the test trials, all Ss were administered a task designed to assess whether differing response tendencies to the stimulus dimensions (shape, size, or color) had resulted from the experimental procedures. The assessment task consisted of six cards, each containing a stimulus array of the complex oddity problem. Prior to presentation of each card, S was told to point to the form which would make the bell ring. For Groups FBS-, S-C, and C all stimuli were outlined in black and presented on a white surface. An oddity relation was presented for shape and size, with a different stimulus member odd for each of these dimensions. For Groups FS+ and FSthe dimension of color was added to the array since this had been present throughout training. In Group FS+, two stimuli were white and the third stimulus appeared red. The stimuli were constituted in such a manner that a different member of the array was odd for either shape, size, or color. For Group FS- , two stimuli appeared red and the third st’imulus was white. Again, for each presentation, a different member of the array was odd for either shape, size, or color. By constructing the task in this fashion the stimulus propert,ies corresponded to those which were present during training for a given group. By assigning the odd stimulus of each of the dimensions to a different member of the array, it was possible to assess which, if any, dimension was consistently controlling the responses of each S. RESULTS
Table 1 summarizes the analysis of variance performed on t’he number of correct responsesper block of five trials for the training and test phases. The analysis indicated that the main effects for Training Procedure (p < .05), Sex (p < .Ol i , and Blocks of Trials (p < .OOl) were significant, However, the sex factor, with girls (mean = 22.5) producing
FADING
AND
ODDITY
TABLE
ANALYSIS
OF
AND
TRaINING TRIALS
69
1
(T)
Within Ss Trial blocks (B)
7.so**
2.19
4
20.23 .65 11.55 2.38 1.2s 6.86
2.95*
35.23 .41 .34 5.23 .23 1.15 1.66 1.06
38.37***
4 4 4 50
S within group error
53.46
1 1
RXT SXRXT
1.68
350
5
BxS
5
BXR BXT BXRXS BxSxT BXRXT BXRXSXT B X S within-group
1
VARIANCE FOR BLOCKS OF TEST
Between Ss Sex (s) Residence (R) Training procedure SXR SxT
317
LEARNING
error
2: 5 20 20 20 250
5.69*** 1.25 1.81* 1.15
.92
*p < .05. **p < .Ol. *** p < .OOl.
more correct responsesthan boys (mean = 18.4)) was the only significant main effect not qualified by interactions. The Blocks X Training Procedure (p < .OOl) and Blocks X Residence X Training Procedure (p < .05) interactions were both significant. An analysis of simple interaction effects (Kirk, 1968, p. 22) testing the Blocks X Treatment Procedure interaction at each level of the Residence factor, indicated that the Training Procedure significantly interacted with Blocks of Trials for village F(120,300) = 2.71, p < .Ol but not for rural Ss. The left panel of Figure 1 shows the Blocks X Training Procedure interaction for village Ss while the performance of rural Ss is depicted in the right panel. As shown, for village Ss the change in the effect of training over trials occurred predominantly with the three fading groups. When the fading cue was no longer present, the level of performance sharply declined. The conclusion that the fading and nonfading procedures did not result in differential performance on the oddity task is further supported by a Sex X Residence X Training Procedure analysis of variance performed on total correct responsesduring the test trials. While the main
318
CHENEY
Ah-D
STEIN
RURAL
BLOCKS
test
FIG. 1. Percentage trials.
of correct
responses
OF 15 TRIALS
of village
and
rural
h’s during
training
and
effect for training procedure approached significance F(4,50) = 2.19, p < .lO, the only clearly significant result was the main effect for Sex, F&50) = 5.22, p < .05. Although the fading and nonfading procedures did not reliably affect oddity performance, the results from the dimensional preference task indicated that the training procedures were associated with different patterns of stimulus observation. In the dimensional preference task, on each trial one member was odd for shape while another was odd for size. In addition, for Groups FS+ and FS- a third member of the stimulus array was also odd with regard to color (red). A S was classified as demonstrating a reliable preference if the S chose an odd member for the same stimulus dimension on at least four of the six assessment trials. Results indicated that while 93 and 86% of the Ss in Groups FS+ and FS-, respectively, displayed a preference, only 36% in Group FBS-, 50% in Group S-C, and 29% in Group C exhibited a preference. In each instance, however, the expressed preference in these latter three groups was for the dimension of shape. This is in contrast to Group FS + , in which only 14% of the Ss preferred the dimension of shape and 79% preferred the color. In comparison, 50% of the Ss in Group FS- preferred the dimension of shape and only 29% preferred the color. This suggested that supplementing the S- stimuli with the color fading cue fostered transfer of observation to the relevant dimension of shape to a greater degree than supplementing the S+ stimulus with the color fading cue. This conclusion is further supported by the correlations, presented in Table 2, between responding during training, testing, and the dimensional
FADING
AND
ODDITY
TABLE CORREL.4TIONS BETWEEN AND PERFORMANCE
319
LEARNING
2
DIMENSIONAL OBSERVATION TASK SCORES DURING TRAINING AND TEST TRIALS"
Dimension Training
procedure trials
Shape
size
- .78** .66**
-.37 .33
- .15 .25
- .56* - .51
Other
FS+ Training Test FSTraining Test FBSTraining Test s-c Training Test C Training Test
-
.81*** 70** .40 .03
.Ol .41
-.03 -.41
.02 -.33
.62* .64*
- .65* - .60*
- .54* - .60*
.84*** 83***
- .68** - .65*
- .75** - .75**
D For Group FS + and FS - , Other refers to stimulus of red color. For Groups FBSS-C, and C, Other refers to the nonodd stimulus. *p < .05. **p < .Ol. *** p < .OOl.
observation task. Groups S-C and C, which received no supplementary cue during training, showed a consistent pattern in which responding to the shape dimension during the assessmenttask was positively related to performance during both training and test trials. The correlations for Group FS+ , however, indicate that these Ss tended to respond throughout the study either on the basis of color or shape. Ss who responded on the basis of color, as indicated by performance on the observational task, performed well during the training phase when the color cue was available, but poorly during test trials when the color cue was absent. Ss who responded on the basis of shape tended to perform poorly during training but well during test trials. The magnitude of these correlations indicated that supplementing S+ with the color cue did not lead to transfer from the color to the relevant shape dimension among Ss who were not initially responding on the basis of shape. In Group FS- , however, where S- was marked by the supplementary cue, such high correlations did not emerge, indicating that greater transfer of observation from the color to shape dimension did occur.
320
CHENET
,4ND
STEIN
DISCUSSION
In contrast to previous research which employed fading to effectively train children on a variety of simple discrimination problems (e.g., Moore & Goldiamond, 3964; Powers, Cheney & Agostino, 1970; Sidman 8~Stoddard, 1967; Touchette, 1968)) the fading procedures of the present study were not significantly more effective than a standard (nonfading) procedure in training children on a relational learning task. While it is possible that the relative ineffectiveness of fading was due to supplementary cue changes which were too abrupt, it should be noted that the stimulus materials used in the present study were similar to those used in the fading procedure of an earlier study which successfully trained children in a simple color discrimination (Powers et al., 1970). The failure of the fading procedures to produce improved learning compared with nonfading procedures is consistent with the general findings of Gollin and Savoy (1968). In both the present as well as this earlier study, successful performance on the learning task required Xs to attend to more than one aspect or dimension of the stimulus array. If the attention of Ss in the fading groups narrowed to the dimension of the supplementary cue early in oddity training, as Gollin and Savoy observed in their study, then these Ss would be expected to show superior performance during training trials but inferior performance during test trials in comparison with the control groups. This pattern of results was, in fact, obtained. It was further indicated by the present findings that the degree to which fading procedures foster transfer of observation to the relevant task dimension depends on the physical qualities of the supplementary cue. Superimposition of the color cue on S+ led to less transfer of observation than superimposition of the S- stimuli. Such a finding is consistent with previous research by Saravo, Bagby and Haskins (1970) who concluded that children rely more on the negative than the positive stimulus in oddity transfer. Progressive and prominent changes in those stimuli which are a primary focus of Ss’ observation may have facilitated transfer from the color to the shape dimension. REFERENCES E. S., Rr children. Journal
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