Blank-comparison assessment of stimulus-stimulus relations in individuals with mental retardation: A methodological note

Matching to sample is commonly used in research and practice to assess relational learning of persons with mental retardation. However, forced- choice matching tasks are not always appropriate. In this paper we have illustrated blank-comparison matching to sample, a selection-based 'yes/no' method requiring no verbal skills. Participants select a comparison stimulus if it is judged to be related to the sample (analogous to 'yes') but select a black square (blank) if it is not so judged ('no'). In the first experiment the method was used to explore bases for emergent symbolic 'mapping' performances. In the second experiment we assessed similarity judgments between form stimuli. Both experiments confirmed the feasibility and utility of the method for making unambiguous inferences as to whether pairs of stimuli were or were not related.