Dermot BarnesHolmes

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Relational Frame Theory A Brief Introductory
Tutorial
Dermot Barnes-Holmes
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Relational Frame Theory
The Complexity and Power of Human Language and
Cognition
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Relational Frames The Foundation of Language
and Cognition?
The ability to frame events relationally under
contextual control affords humans great economy
when learning. . .
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Relational Frames The Foundation of Language
and Cognition?
Try this exercise Learn four relations and see
what happens. . .
RELATION 1
OLDER THAN
HOMER
LISA
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Relational Frames The Foundation of Language
and Cognition?
RELATION 2
OLDER THAN
MAGGIE
LISA
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Relational Frames The Foundation of Language
and Cognition?
RELATION 3
YOUNGER THAN
HOMER
ABE
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Relational Frames The Foundation of Language
and Cognition?
RELATION 4
YOUNGER THAN
ABE
MONTY BURNS
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From 4 Trained Relations. . .
YOUNGER
OLDER
YOUNGER
OLDER
OLDER
YOUNGER
OLDER
OLDER
OLDER
YOUNGER
YOUNGER
OLDER
OLDER
YOUNGER
YOUNGER
OLDER
OLDER
YOUNGER
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The Concept of the Transformation of Functions
Why is it Important?
The property that gives arbitrarily applicable
relational responding its psychological
significance, is the transformation of stimulus
functions
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The Concept of the Transformation of Functions
Why is it Important?
If someone has a fear of dogs, and they are told
that jumjaw is another word for dog, then fear
may be elicited upon hearing here comes a
jumjaw!

WHEN
FEAR
is a
DOG
is a
Jumjaw
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The Concept of the Transformation of Functions
Why is it Important?
The term transformation of stimulus functions is
used because transfer does not capture the
functional altering effects that often occur for
non-equivalence relations
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The Concept of the Transformation of Functions
Why is it Important?
If someone has a fear of dogs, and they are told
that there is a dog in the next room fear may be
elicited upon hearing I am going to let him in
now! However, the level of fear may be a
function of the relative size of the dog.
Small Dog
produces
Average Sized Dog
produces
Enormous Dog
produces
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Relational Frame Theory The Units of Analysis
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Relational Frame Theory
Defining Properties of Relational Frames
1. Mutual Entailment
3. Transformation of Functions
2. Combinatorial Entailment
Entailment is controlled by the relational
context or Crel e.g., the phrase is a in a
betrang is a limoo
Transformation is controlled by the functional
context or Cfunc e.g., the word taste in
what does a betrang taste like?
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Relational Frame Theory A Behavioral Explanation
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Relational Frame Theory
Arbitrary History
Crel (e.g. is)
predicts
predicts
Crel (e.g. is)
Sr
tree
derives
tree
Sr
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Relational Frame Theory
Multiple Stimulus Relations
Crel (e.g. smaller than)
predicts
predicts
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Relational Frame Theory
Arbitrary Application
Crel (e.g. smaller than)
737
757
predicts
Crel (e.g. bigger than)
Cfunc (e.g. worth)
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Relational Frame Theory
An Operant Account
Explicitly Reinforced Relational Response
Explicitly Reinforced Relational Response
Explicitly Reinforced Relational Response
Unreinforced Derived Relational Response
I lt G
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Relational Frame Theory Some Empirical Evidence
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Developmental or Correlational Evidence
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Non-Humans and Derived Relations

• Apparently absent in nonhumans
• Present in all normal humans

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Development and Derived Relations

• Emerges in infancy in humans

87.5 (4 pairs)
Lipkens, Hayes, Hayes (1993)
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Development and Derived Relations

• Emerges in infancy
• Can combine multiple relations at least by 23
  months

Object
Name
90 (4 pairs)
Sound
Lipkens, Hayes, Hayes (1993)
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Development and Derived Relations

• Emerges in infants
• Can combine multiple relations at least by 23
  months
• Multiple relational forms develop in infants

Lipkens, Hayes, Hayes (1993)
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Development and Derived Relations

• Emerges in infants
• Can combine multiple relations at least by 23
  months
• Multiple relational forms develop in infants
• Correlates with cognitive/verbal ability

Normal
LD Receptive
Chance
LD No receptive
Devany, Hayes, Nelson (1986)
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Development and Derived Relations
Normal

• Emerges in infants
• Can combine multiple relations at least by 23
  months
• Multiple relational forms develop in infants
• Correlates with cognitive/verbal ability
• Correlates with the development of specific
  verbal skills

Hearing Impaired Language gt2 yrs
Chance
Hearing Impaired Expressive Naming No Receptive
Naming
Barnes, McCullagh, Keenan (1990)
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Development and Derived Relations

• Emerges in infants
• Can combine multiple relations at least by 23
  months
• Multiple relational forms develop in infants
• Correlates with cognitive/verbal ability
• Correlates with the development of specific
  verbal skills
• Deictic relational frames (I-You, Here-There,
  Now-Then) correlate with ToM data

McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes (2004)
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Evidence from Mainstream Measures of Language and
Cognition
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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations

• Derived relations correlate with verbal ability
  on the WAIS

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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations

• Derived relations correlate with verbal ability
  on the WAIS
• Derived relations produce priming effects

Barnes-Holmes, et al. (2005)
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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations

• Derived relations correlate with verbal ability
  on the WAIS
• Derived relations produce priming effects
• Derived relations produce differential ERPs
  measures

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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations
Right Hemisphere
Left Hemisphere
Directly Trained and Equivalent Stimuli
Non-Equivalent Stimuli
Directly Trained
Equivalent Stimuli
Non-Equivalent Stimuli
Barnes-Holmes, et al. (2005)
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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations

• Derived relations correlate with verbal ability
  on the WAIS
• Derived relations produce priming effects
• Derived relations produce differential ERPs
  measures
• Derived relations produce neural activation
  patterns (recorded using fMRI) that resemble
  those involved in semantic processing

Dickins, Singh, Roberts, Burns, Downes,
Jimmieson, Bentall (2001)
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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations

• Deictic relational frames produce ERPs patterns
  similar to those found in ToM research

Other
Self
McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes (2004)
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Established Measures of Human Language and
Derived Relations

• Deictic relational frames produce ERPs patterns
  similar to those found in ToM research
• The IAT effect is only produced by participants
  who have formed the appropriate derived relations

OToole, Barnes-Holmes, Smyth (under review)
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Evidence for Transformation of Function
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Derived Relations and the Transformation of
Functions
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Derived Relations and the Transformation of
Functions
15 normal subjects Establish this relational
network in half of them using arbitrary
stimuli A lt B lt C Give B a CS shock function
and then present a single ½ strength shock in the
presence of A Test the C stimulus. . .
Dougher, Hamilton, Fink, Harrington (under
review)
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Evidence for Relational Frames as Operant Behavior
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Derived Relations as Generalized Operant Behavior

• According to RFT, what do we need to establish a
  relational frame?
• - Mutual entailment
• - Combinatorial entailment
• - Transformation of function
• - Flexibility in contextual control
• Generalization to new stimuli
• - Generalization to increasing numbers of stimuli

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Mutual Entailment and Transformation of Function
For all three subjects (4-5 year olds) explicit
exemplar training on two coins was required to
establish mutually entailed opposite relations
This coin
buys many sweets (Cfunc),
and is opposite (Crel) to this coin
few
MANY
Which would you take to buy as many sweets as
possible?
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Combinatorial Entailment and Transformation of
Function
For all three subjects explicit exemplar training
on three coins was required to establish
combinatorially entailed opposite relations
few
MANY
MANY
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Flexibility in Contextual Control
Which would you NOT take to buy as many sweets
as possible?
MANY
few
many
few
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Generalization to Increasing Numbers of Stimuli
and Increasing Flexibility in Contextual Control
9-Cup Random Would-Not Presentation
many
FEW
few
many
many
few
many
few
few
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Establishing the Relational Frame of Opposite
Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, et al. (2004)
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Establishing the Relational Frame of Comparison
Berens Hayes (in press)
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Establishing the Relational Frame of Coordination
Correct
100
Incorrect
15m24d
16m25d
19m7d
23m26d
17m
22m
Luciano, Gómez, Rodríguez, in press
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Extending RFT to More Complex Examples of Human
Language and Cognition
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Extending the Analysis
Relating derived relations to derived relations
provides a model of analogical reasoning
A ten-year program of research has supported and
extended this basic RFT model and most recently.
. .
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Recent ERPs Data
Statistical Analyses Area Dimensions (?V ms)
But p .0589
p .0448
p .0112
p .0097
Barnes-Holmes, et al. (2005)
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Extending the Analysis
Networks of before-after derived relations
provide a model of rule-governance or
instructional control
Before/After Relational Pretraining
Same/Different Relational Pretraining
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Testing Rule Control
(OHora Barnes-Holmes, 2004)
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Boldly Going Where No Behavior Analyst Has Gone
Before Beliefs, Attitudes, and the Unconscious
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No difference among the groups in terms of their
tendency to relate autism to negative terms more
quickly than positive terms BUT. . .
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So, I Think We May Be On To Something What Do You
Think?
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Relational Frame Theory A Brief Introductory
Tutorial
Dermot Barnes-Holmes