Exploring screen presentations in the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP)

The current study attempted to systematically manipulate stimulus presentations in the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to determine the potential impact of this variable on implicit responding. The study comprised of four conditions that systematically manipulated the positions of the sample stimuli and the response options. Specifically, the Random-Random Condition randomized both sample stimuli and response options; Random-Fixed randomized sample stimuli, but response options remained in fixed locations; Fixed-Random Condition fixed sample stimuli but randomized response options; and Fixed-Fixed Condition fixed both sample stimuli and response options. The results demonstrated strong and predicted IRAP effects in all four conditions. Although the Random-Fixed presentation generated the strongest D-IRAP score, the randomization of the sample stimuli and response options were both critical to producing strong and significant D-IRAP scores because the Random-Random and Fixed-Random Conditions were only marginally smaller. The implications of the findings for existing and future research with the IRAP are discussed.