Abstract

SALVATORI, Amanda et al. Identity-Matching with compound stimuli and musical notes learning. Acta comport. [online]. 2012, vol.20, n.3, pp. 287-298. ISSN 0188-8145.

The present study aimed to establish emergent conditional relations between the written name of the musical notes (A - do, fa, and si), their representations in the musical stave (B) and the sounds of musical notes on the piano (C) and the flute (C'). Five undergraduate students were submitted to an identity matching-tosample training with compound sample and compound comparison stimuli (AB-AB). The sample stimuli were A1B1, A2B2 and A3B3 and the comparison stimuli were A1B1, A1B2, A1B3, A2B1, A2B2, A2B3, A3B1, A3B2 and A3B3. The task was performed on a computer. A sample stimulus was presented in each trial with a comparison stimulus identical to the sample and other two comparison stimuli. Responses to the comparison stimulus identical to the sample stimulus were followed by the presentation of a "Smile" and the addition of 10 points to the counter-point. The learning criterion was 100% of correct responses in an 18 trials session. Then, participants were submitted to B-A emergent test. In this test, the sample stimuli were A1, A2 or A3 and comparison stimuli were B1, B2 and B3. Then in the AC-B Test, new stimuli (C) were added to the sample. On this phase, the sample stimulus was the written name of the musical notes and the sound of the respective musical note (A1C1, A2C2 or A3C3). The comparison stimuli were B1, B2 and B3. Then, the C-A Test evaluated whether new conditional relations between the written name and the sound of the musical notes emerged. At the end, a generalization test evaluated the extent of conditional control with new auditory stimuli (C'1, C'2 or C'3 - musical notes on the flute) and the written name of the musical notes (A1, A2 and A3). All participants met the criterion of the identity matching-to-sample training within one session of 18 trials. Four of five participants had 100% of correct responses on A-B Test and AC-B Test. On the C-A Test the same four participants reached a high level of correct responses (83,3% to 100%) and in the generalization test, all participants reached a high level of correct responses (above 88%). Therefore, four of five participants showed results that indicate the establishment of emergent conditional relations between the written name of the musical notes, their representations in the musical score and the respective sounds on the piano and the flute. Therefore, the identity matching training with compound sample and comparison is effective to establish emergent conditional relations in musical notes learning.

Keywords : identity-matching; compound stimuli; equivalence relations; conditional relations; mouse clicking; human.

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