Measuring the relatedness of equivalent stimuli / Medida do grau de relacionamento entre estímulos equivalentes

Abstract

There are methodological difficulties to quantify the relatedness of equivalent stimuli. The purpose of this study was to create an instrument that could be helpful in this process. Two groups of college students took part in this study. The experimental group established equivalence classes comprised of abstract pictures and pictures of faces expressing anger, happiness and disgust. They then evaluated some of these pictures with a semantic differential. The control group used the same instrument in evaluating faces and figures, untrained in establishing relations between those stimuli. The control group assessed the figures as neutral and their assessment of the faces corresponded to that carried out by the participants of the experimental group – to them, the figures were equivalents to the faces. The comparison between the values attributed to the faces and figures provides a quantitative measurement of the degree of relatedness between those stimuli and that may be used to study parameters such as the number of nodes.