Maintenance of meaning change in abstract stimuli through reorganization of equivalence classes: follow-up one week after the change"

• Grant number: 25/15747-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2025
• End date: November 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Júlio César Coelho de Rose
• Grantee: Monique de Oliveira Souza
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The stimulus equivalence paradigm is related to meaning. For example, abstract stimuli that become equivalent to facial expressions of emotion acquire the meaning of those expressions, as measured by semantic differential. De Almeida and de Rose (2015) demonstrated that abstract stimuli can change in meaning when the equivalence classes are reorganized and those stimuli become equivalent to a different emotional expression. The study also showed that the magnitude of the change in meaning is greater when class reorganization is trained using delayed matching to sample (DMTS) rather than simultaneous matching to sample (SMTS). This study has never been replicated, and the present project is part of a larger initiative aimed at systematically replicating the study by de Almeida and de Rose (2015), given its theoretical and practical relevance. The objective of this project is to assess the maintenance of the stimulus classes (original versus reorganized) one week after the procedure from the original study. Two experimental groups (N = 27 each) will be trained in SMTS for class formation, with abstract stimuli becoming equivalent to faces expressing happiness, neutrality, and anger. Participants will evaluate the valence of stimuli D1, D2, and D3 using the semantic differential. Then, class reorganization training will be conducted using SMTS for the first group and DMTS (2s) for the second group. Afterward, all participants will evaluate the D stimuli again. A follow-up will be conducted one week later to examine whether participants maintain the reorganized classes, revert to responding according to the original classes, or show influence from both class structures. (AU)