This article describes a procedure to investigate metaphorical extension of tacts, and reports preliminary data. Six college students learned to choose between four pseudo-words to tact four species (classes) of creature-like pictures. The defining properties controlling the tacts (selections) were color and shape, but two of the species—Clai and Trax—had experimentally manipulated adventitious properties (e.g., wings, hair) whereas the other species, Fite and Dag did not have these properties. In subsequent phases, these adventitious properties were added either to the Fite or to the Dag, and standard tacts were punished with negative feedback. Extension of the tacts "Clai" and "Trax" was observed to Fite and Dag pictures that appeared with the adventitious properties previously associated with Clai or Trax pictures. These metaphorical extensions continued to occur in test phases without differential consequences. These preliminary data show that the procedure has potential to simulate metaphorical extension in the lab and to allow the experimental investigation of variables that affect this phenomenon.

本文介绍了一种方法，用于研究机智的隐喻扩展，并报告初步数据。六名大学生学会了在四个伪单词之间进行选择，以处理四种种类（类）的类生物图片。控制节拍（选择）的定义属性是颜色和形状，但是其中两个物种Clai和Trax在实验上操纵了不定性属性（例如，翅膀，头发），而其他物种Fite和Dag没有这些属性。在随后的阶段中，这些不定性属性被添加到Fite或Dag中，并且标准委婉的文章受到负面反馈的惩罚。观察到“ Clai”和“ Trax”的触角扩展到Fite和Dag图片，这些图片具有以前与Clai或Trax图片相关的不定性质。这些隐喻扩展在测试阶段继续发生，而没有不同的结果。这些初步数据表明，该程序具有在实验室中模拟隐喻扩展的潜力，并允许对影响此现象的变量进行实验研究。