Oddity performance in preschool children at risk for mental retardation: Transfer and maintenance

When things are not the same: A review of research into relations of difference

“…Nonarbitrary same/different relational responding has been studied in the comparative psychology literature with a variety of species, and early types of nonarbitrary relational responding—identity and oddity—have also been well studied with humans (e.g., Mackay et al, ; Serna et al, ; Soraci, Carlin & Bray, ; Soraci et al, ). As noted above, nonarbitrary relational responding in accordance with a relation of sameness or distinction can include matching pairs of stimuli (e.g., matching two cows to two dogs rather than to a cat and horse; relational matching); selecting an item that is the same as, or different from a sample (relational listener discriminations); or producing/selecting the name of a relation in response to items either physically different or the same as each other (relational tacting).…”

“…Although early research on oddity with humans seemed to indicate that responding to oddity tasks was very difficult for individuals under 4 years of age (e.g., Ellis & Sloan, ; House, ), other early researchers considered oddity to be a prerequisite for identity matching (e.g., Fellows, ). More recent studies, moreover, have been successful in training oddity with young children and individuals with developmental disabilities (e.g., Soraci et al, ). Even though several factors may influence performance at early developmental levels of functioning, some authors (Carlin et al, ; Soraci et al, ) suggest that difficulty in establishing successful oddity matching may be due to the complexity of the task requirements.…”

“…First, although it might seem logical to assume that if a person responds to same, then they also respond to different, empirical evidence suggests that this is not the case. As we will discuss further, research with individuals with developmental disabilities has shown that individuals who respond accurately during identity matching tasks may not necessarily respond accurately during oddity matching (e.g., selecting a comparison different from a sample), and vice versa (e.g., Mackay, Soraci, Carlin, Dennis & Strawbridge, ; Soraci et al, ). A similar argument can be made in response to the suggestion that teaching other types of relations (e.g., comparison) might implicitly teach relations of difference by virtue of the fact that a difference along any relational dimension (e.g., being more than something) automatically implies a difference in absolute terms.…”

Rapid Teaching of Arbitrary Matching in Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

“…Several studies have demonstrated the use of color to speed target selection in visual search (Wilkinson, Carlin & Thistle, 2008; Wilkinson, Carlin, & Jagaroo, 2006). Research reported by Soraci et al (1987) is particularly important for the research described here. Soraci and his colleagues manipulated the visual arrays used in oddity tasks and produced rapid acquisition of oddity performance in children with mental ages below five years who often experience difficulty with three-stimulus oddity tasks (e.g., selection of a square displayed together with two circles).…”

“…or their enhancement. Furthermore, the research by Soraci et al (1987) suggests a method that appears to establish the prerequisite oddity performance if necessary.…”