The interference of contextual variables on exclusion probes of novel names and verbs

Abstract

Exclusion responding has been documented with name-object relations: When an undefined name is presented participants select an undefined object. The present study investigated determinants of this responding, aiming to identify conditions under which the exclusion would not occur and the participants would select a blank comparison, instead of an undefined stimulus. The study compared the effects of using, as simple stimuli, pseudo-words whose topographies were similar to names or to verbs in the present continuous tense. Under a baseline in which comparison stimuli were pictures of objects and the samples were the corresponding names, the presentation of a pseudo-name on exclusion probes resulted in the selection of an undefined picture; however, when the sample was a pseudo-verb participants often selected the mask. When the baseline presented video clips of defined actions as comparison stimuli and the sample stimulus was a pseudo-verb, the presentation of a pseudo-verb as a probe occasioned the selection of the video clip showing an undefined action, but participants tended to select the mask when the sample was a pseudo-name. These data suggest that the discrepancy between the classes of sample stimuli and comparison stimuli interferes with the exclusion responding and support the notion that the formation of a stimulus class involving simultaneously samples and comparisons is a necessary condition for exclusion.