Cognitive flexibility and contextual control of stimulus equivalence classes according to the nature of contextual cues

Contextual control of stimuli equivalence classes (SEC) emerges from second order conditional discriminations (CD): in this procedure, a stimulus can belong to different SEC according to the context. This characteristic allows the experimental study of flexible behaviors. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) also assesses cognitive flexibility, though by non-arbitrary criteria. In this study, the performance of 52 participants in a second-order CD task was evaluated, using contextual cues of different nature (arbitrary / verbal), and compared with their performance in the WCST. The results showed that, although verbal keys acquired their contextual function more readily than the arbitrary ones, they did not have a differential impact on the contextual control of SEC. Strong associations between performances in both tasks were observed. The results are discussed in terms of differences in the arbitrariness of the stimuli and the convenience of using rigorous procedures in the evaluation of relational flexibility.