Learning to associate compatible and incompatible pictures with food and non-food odours, within a stimulus equivalence paradigm

Within consumer research, it is acknowledged that influential and perhaps unconscious associations to products exist, which require indirect as well as direct methods of investigation. We examine the potential usefulness of one such indirect method, an application of the stimulus equivalence matching-to-sample paradigm [Sidman, M. (1971). Reading and auditory–visual equivalences. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 14, 5–13].Two experiments are reported (n = 15, n = 20). Both used three, 3-membered stimulus sets: A (food and non-food odours); B (nonsense syllables); and C (pictures), two of which were either ‘compatible’ or ‘incompatible’ with the corresponding items in the A set. Each participant took part in both ‘compatible’ and ‘incompatible’ conditions. First, (A → B), participants were trained to choose one of the three nonsense syllables when presented with one of the odours. Second, (B → C), those who had learned the first task (n = 10, n = 14) were trained to choose one of the three pictures when presented with one of the nonsense syllables, and finally, in a test phase (C → A), to choose one of the three odours when presented with one of the pictures. In both experiments, B → C trials to criterion and response times were significantly greater in the ‘incompatible’ condition, and the error structure differed between conditions. In other phases, no consistent inter-condition differences were found. We discuss the use of this paradigm in consumer research on odours and tastes as a very indirect way of measuring pre-existing associations.