A comparative study of first- and second-order matching-to-sample training procedures

Abstract

An experiment was designed to evaluate performance differences in first-and second-order matching to sample when a nonverbal matching response is used. Twenty-four college students were assigned to four groups with different sequences of first- and second-order training. Each group was further divided in two subgroups; in one subgroup, difference and similarity trials were presented in separate blocks, whereas in the other subgroup, difference and similarity trials were mixed randomly. The effects of first- versus second-order matching-to-sample depended on the random or blocked presentation of trials. Most participants trained with blocked presentation showed better acquisition in the first-order matchingto-sample procedure, whereas the participants trained with random presentation showed more consistent patterns of performance across sessions. These results are discussed in terms of the possible roles of feedback and second-order stimuli in conditional discrimination.