12.16 Transformation of Stimulus Functions Example

Before his sister specified a relation of opposition between salt and sugar, sugar may not have had any important functions for the boy in the context of making his favorite meal. In fact, the boy may have been likely to use sugar in this context because it looks similar to salt. Once the relation of opposition was specified, however, the stimulus functions of sugar were transformed to be the opposite of the stimulus functions of salt in this context. This is what we mean by transformation of stimulus functions.