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Studies of derived relational responding and stimulus equivalence that examine the acquisition of arbitrary stimuli into existing classes suggest that classes that are more emotionally salient facilitate the acquisition of novel members. This study examined the hypothesis that personal distress would create facilitated acquisition in deriving relations between two arbitrary stimuli and one personally distressing stimulus. Transformation of function was also measured via self-report. No facilitated acquisition effect appeared, but transformation of function was more pronounced in the distressed group. These findings suggest that transformation of function is possible before the relations are fully derived and facilitated acquisition only occurs in particular behavioral contexts.

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