Emergence of visual-visual conditional discriminations

Effects of instructed visual imagining on emergent conditional discriminations

Visual imagining has been proposed to play a role in the emergence of derived stimulus relations. We examined whether test-relevant visual imagining during baseline training would, accordingly, facilitate emergent visual-visual conditional discriminations at test. Adult participants (n = 75) were randomly assigned to three groups. Baseline tact training established conditional discriminations among sets of image samples and textual comparisons (AC/BD), and baseline intraverbal training established conditional discriminations among pairs of textual stimuli (CD). Two groups received tact before intraverbal training, and one group received the reverse sequence. During intraverbal training, one of the former groups was instructed to visualize the images that went with the textual stimuli. These instructions did not affect participants' retrospective self-reports of test-relevant visual imagining during training. Nevertheless, they produced a large effect on correct responding in an image-matching test (AB/BA) that followed intraverbal training. This effect was independent of baseline retention.

Correspondence Between Vocal-Verbal Behavior and Go/No-Go Responses During the Successive Matching-to-Sample Procedure

In the current study, eight college students were exposed to a successive matching-to-sample (S-MTS) procedure utilizing non-verbal auditory stimuli consisting of common sounds. During emergent relations tests, participants were asked to talk aloud, and their vocal-verbal statements were transcribed and categorized as class-consistent, class-inconsistent, or irrelevant. All participants met emergence criterion for symmetry and four did so for transitivity/equivalence. Analysis of vocal-verbal statements showed a positive correlation between class-consistent statements emitted by participants and correct selection responses during S-MTS tasks. Such results suggest possible verbal mediation during emergent relations tests.

The effects of a training package to teach note taking on the formation of equivalence classes

Effective note taking may enhance learning outcomes for students and serve as a directly observable form of mediation within a test context. Frampton et al. (2023) used stimulus fading to teach note taking in the form of a graphic organizer (GO) during matching-to-sample baseline relations training (MTS-BRT). Moderately high yields were observed with young adults despite the use of linear series training, abstract stimuli, and five-member classes. The present study taught the same note taking strategy using an intervention package including video illustration, voice-over instructions, and feedback to eight college students. Participants were taught to construct the GO during MTS-BRT with three three-member classes of familiar stimuli. Then the effects of MTS-BRT alone with three five-member classes of abstract stimuli was evaluated. Participants efficiently completed training with familiar stimuli and passed the posttest on the first attempt. With the abstract stimuli, participants engaged in GO construction during MTS-BRT and the six participants that demonstrated high levels of fidelity to the trained note taking strategy passed the posttest on the first attempt. These results replicate findings from Frampton et al. while using a more efficient intervention package. Benefits of teaching overt mediation responses are discussed as well as future directions for translation to applied contexts.

Learning Symmetrical Relations Facilitates Emergence of Intraverbals after Reading a Text: Effects on Reading Comprehension

We studied the effect of prior learning of symmetrical intraverbals on the emergence of complex intraverbals after reading a text. In Experiment 1, eighteen 7- and 8-year-old children read a text with sentences in which A and B stimuli and B and C stimuli were related (e.g., “The Alps” to “Mont Blanc,” and to “Falcon”). Thereafter, all ABC intraverbals (e.g., C–A—“Name the mountain range of the falcon”) were probed without reinforcement with written stimuli and written responses. In Condition 1, six children learned before intraverbals that relate the categories to the exemplars that served as stimuli in the text (e.g., “Name a mountain”—“Mont Blanc”—Exemplars) and learned intraverbals that relate the exemplars to the categories (e.g., “What is the Mont Blanc?”—“A mountain”—Categories.) In Conditions 2 and 3, 12 children did not learn Categories or neither Exemplars and Categories. All children in Condition 1 demonstrated the emergence of all ABC intraverbals, but not all children in Conditions 2–3 demonstrated emergence. Experiment 2 controlled that text presentations and teaching trials did not affect the results and replicated the effect. Therefore, learning simple discriminations symmetrical to one another facilitates further emergence with more complex discriminations—intraverbals—which evidence reading comprehension.

Verbal behavior development theory and relational frame theory: Reflecting on similarities and differences

Relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory are two behavior-analytic perspectives on human language and cognition. Despite sharing reliance on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory have largely been developed independently, with initial applications in clinical psychology and education/development, respectively. The overarching goal of the current paper is to provide an overview of both theories and explore points of contact that have been highlighted by conceptual developments in both fields. Verbal behavior development theory research has identified how behavioral developmental cusps make it possible for children to learn language incidentally. Recent developments in relational frame theory have outlined the dynamic variables involved across the levels and dimensions of arbitrarily applicable relational responding, and we argue for the concept of mutually entailed orienting as an act of human cooperation that drives arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Together these theories address early language development and children's incidental learning of names. We present broad similarities between the two approaches in the types of functional analyses they generate and discuss areas for future research.

Emergent Relations between Discriminative Stimuli, Responses, and Consequences in Intraverbals

We explored the emergence of relations between stimuli learned as discriminative, responses, and consequences with intraverbals. In Experiment 1, five 9- and 10-year-old children learned intraverbals that related a country (A) with a city (B)—e.g., “Name a city of Switzerland”; “Davos”—and that country with a predator animal (C). Correct responses were followed by saying the name of a feature of the city (T) or saying an animal preyed by the predator (U), respectively. The emergence of BC and CB intraverbals that relate the cities and the predators and that of intraverbals that relate the specific consequences to the cities (T-B and U-B) and to the prey animals (T-C and U-C) was probed with no differential consequences. All five children demonstrated the emergence of BC, CB, U-B, and U-C and four children also demonstrated the emergence of T-B and T-C. In Experiment 2, a simpler procedure that controlled a possible extraneous factor, was used with seven 7- and 8-year old children and they also demonstrated emergence. Thus, the emergence of verbal relations with elements taught as discriminative stimuli, responses, and consequences was demonstrated.

Training sequence effects on emergent conditional discriminations: Replication and extension to selection-based training

We examined the replicability and generality of a previously reported training sequence effect on emergent conditional discriminations in the intraverbal naming task. In Experiment 1, a tact-intraverbal (TI) group learned first to vocally label 6 visual patterns and then to intraverbally relate pairs of verbal labels, whereas an intraverbal-tact (IT) group received the same training in the opposite sequence. Emergent conditional discriminations among pattern stimuli were assessed in match-to-sample (MTS) format. Experiment 2 was identical, except vocal tact and intraverbal training were replaced with selection-based training in which the verbal labels were text stimuli. Compared to the IT sequence, the TI sequence resulted in greater mean accuracy at test (Experiment 1), higher yields (Experiment 2), and shorter reaction times (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 data suggested the TI group's performance might be less dependent on intact intraverbal relations relative to the IT group, but related to participants' reports of visualization during intraverbal training. The results suggest the sequence effect is replicable and occurs in experimental preparations commonly used to study derived stimulus relations. They also provide novel support for the hypothesis that participant behavior during training alters sources of stimulus control available at test.

Naming of Stimuli in Equivalence Class Formation in Children

In the present study, two typically developing 4-year-old children, Pete and Joe, were trained six conditional discriminations and tested for the formation of three 3-member equivalence classes. Pete and Joe did not establish the AC relation within 600 trials and were given two conditions of preliminary training, including naming of stimuli with two different stimulus sets. Pete started with preliminary training with common naming of stimuli, followed by conditional-discrimination training and testing for emergent relations, and continued with preliminary training on individual naming of stimuli, followed by the same training and testing as described previously. Joe experienced the same conditions but in reversed order. Pete responded in accordance with equivalence in the second round in the condition with common naming. In the first round of testing in the condition with individual naming, he responded in accordance with equivalence. In the condition with individual naming, Joe did not respond in accordance with stimulus equivalence but established all of the directly trained relations during training. In the condition with common naming, he responded in accordance with equivalence in the first round of testing. The results from the experiment support earlier findings that both common and individual naming could facilitate the emergence of equivalence classes.

An Evaluation of the Emergence of Untrained Academic and Applied Skills After Instruction With Video Vignettes

Applied behavior-analytic skills are derived from precise, technical, objective operational definitions and exemplars of natural phenomena. In some cases, technical behavior-analytic terminology can be challenging for students and practitioners to learn and apply given a person's individual history with the concepts. One of the conceptual areas of behavior analysis that learners tend to struggle with more than other areas is the functional account of human language or verbal behavior. We used an emergent-responding training protocol with freely available and easy-to-implement web-based learning tools to teach the terms and definitions of Skinner's taxonomy of verbal operants using video exemplars and mixed response forms to six graduate students. We also tested for the emergence of untrained applied clinical skills in the form of collecting data while watching novel real-world video exemplars. We found that the video-based training system reliably resulted in the emergence of untrained responding and generalization to novel stimuli and responses and that the skills were maintained by four out of six participants for 2 weeks. In addition, the applied skills performances of the participants were comparable to students who received traditional training in verbal behavior, slightly lower than the performances of Board Certified Behavior Analysts, and considerably lower than the performances of doctoral-level BCBAs. When compared to other published research that used emergent-responding training protocols, the current study required more training time on average but resulted in better performances during some maintenance probes. A brief conceptual analysis of our data is presented, as well as recommendations for future research.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40616-020-00140-3.

The establishment of auditory equivalence classes with a go/no-go successive matching-to-sample procedure

The go/no-go successive matching-to-sample (S-MTS) procedure involves the presentation of a sample followed by one comparison in the same location. Participants are required to either touch (go) or refrain from touching (no-go) related and unrelated comparisons, respectively. One advantage of S-MTS is that both sample and comparisons can be auditory. Thus, the purpose of Experiment 1 was to establish three 3-member auditory equivalence classes using familiar dictated words. After training AB and AC relations, 16 out of 16 participants met emergence criterion for symmetry (BA/CA), 12 out of 16 for transitivity/equivalence (BC/CB), and 9 out of 16 for intraverbals, for which testing involved vocalizing relations among auditory stimuli. The purpose of Experiment 2 was to assess the potential influence of stimulus topography on equivalence class formation and the emergence of intraverbal behavior. After training AB and AC relations with unfamiliar stimuli, 16 out of 16 participants met emergence criterion for symmetry (BA/CA), 13 out of 16 for transitivity/equivalence (BC/CB), and 8 out of 16 for intraverbals. Results suggest that the S-MTS procedure may serve as an alternative to simultaneous MTS in the development of auditory equivalence classes.

Generalization of equivalence relations from photos to objects by preschool children

Generalized equivalence classes are stimulus classes that consist of equivalent stimuli and other physically similar class-member stimuli. The present study evaluated whether preschool children would form equivalence classes among photos of abstract objects (2D) and show equivalence generalization to the corresponding objects (3D), printed photos (2D stimuli), and to black-and-white drawn pictures (2D stimuli). Six typically developing children were taught arbitrary relations to establish three 3-member equivalence classes with 2D stimuli presented on a computer screen. AB-AC baseline relations (for half of the participants) and AB-BC relations (for the other half) were taught using a multiple-probe design to assess taught and tested relations. After class formation, three types of generalization probes were conducted: generalization to 3D stimuli, generalization between 2D (printed photos) and 3D stimuli, and generalization to drawn pictures (2D). All of the participants formed the equivalence classes. Two participants met the criterion for all three generalization probe types. Two participants presented mixed results across tests, and two participants did not exhibit equivalence generalization. The results demonstrated equivalence generalization from 2D to 3D stimuli in preschool children, although the variability across participants suggests that such generalization cannot be assumed a priori.

Talk-Aloud Protocols during Conditional Discrimination Training and Equivalence Class Formation

The primary focus of the present experiment was to study participants' self-talk during conditional discrimination training and test for the emergence of conditional relations consistent with equivalence. Eighteen adult participants were exposed to either a Many-to-One (MTO) or a One-to-Many (OTM) training structure arranged as a 6-s delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) procedure. During training and testing, participants were asked to talk aloud. Each trial was divided into three time-windows for recording vocal responses. The first time-window was when the sample was presented, the second time-window was the delay following the offset of the sample stimulus until the onset of the comparisons, and the final time-window was when the comparison array was presented. Overall, participants in the OTM condition talked more than participants in the MTO condition. The participants exposed to MTO increased talking during the third time-window from last part of training to test more than the participants in the OTM condition. For 16 of the 18 participants, talking aloud was less than 55% in the second time-window (during the delay). Conversely, talking in the first and third time-windows were higher than 90% in both groups. Thus, it seems that talking is affected by the shift from training to testing to a greater degree when exposed to MTO than OTM. Furthermore, the data indicate that the participants did not need to talk aloud during the delay to respond correctly on DMTS trials.

Empirical Investigations of the Intraverbal: 2005-2015

Several papers have reviewed the literature based on Skinner's conceptual framework presented in his 1957 book, Verbal Behavior. These reviews have called for more research on the topic of verbal behavior generally and often for more research on particular verbal operants. For example, Sautter and LeBlanc (2006) urged the behavior-analytic community to conduct more research on the intraverbal because of the scant existing literature base at that time. In the current review, we replicate the procedures used by Sautter and LeBlanc focusing specifically on the intraverbal relation and on the literature published in the 10 years since their call for research. We summarize the publication themes, provide graphs of the trends and types of published articles, and offer ideas for future research specific to the intraverbal.

Common and Intraverbal Bidirectional Naming

Naming has been defined as a generalized operant that combines speaker and listener behaviors within the individual. The purpose of this paper is to reintroduce the concept of naming and its subtypes, common and intraverbal, distinguish it from other terms such as the tact relation, and discuss the role of naming in the development of verbal behavior. Moreover, a taxonomical change is proposed. The addition of the qualifier bidirectional would serve to emphasize the speaker-listener bidirectional relation and serve to distinguish the technical term from its commonsense use. It is hoped that this paper will inspire future basic and applied research on an important extension of Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior.

Intraverbal naming and equivalence class formation in children

Six typically developing children between 5 and 7 years of age underwent match-to-sample training to establish three-member equivalence classes after first acquiring a unique name for each stimulus. Horne and Lowe's (1996) naming hypothesis predicts that under those circumstances, match-to-sample training contingencies may establish intraverbal relations between the unique names, which in turn guide correct responses on a subsequent test for stimulus equivalence. Following training of baseline relations (AB and AC), participants received an equivalence test followed by an intraverbal test. Performance on the two tests co-varied, such that three participants passed both tests, and three participants failed repeated administrations of both tests, including a modified version of the equivalence test designed to promote intraverbal responding. The participants who failed the equivalence test, however, did so primarily due to poor performance in transitivity trials, but performed accurately in symmetry trials. After training of a third relation (BC), all three participants performed accurately in a symmetry test for the remaining untrained relations (BA, CA, and CB); two of them in the absence of relevant intraverbal repertoires.

Training Intraverbal Naming to Establish Matching-to-Sample Performances

The current study evaluated whether training intraverbal naming would be sufficient to establish visual-visual matching-to-sample (MTS) performances in college students. In the first experiment, we used a multiple-probe design across stimulus sets to assess whether six participants could match arbitrary visual stimuli (AB) after learning to tact their two experimentally defined classes (A' and B') and then intraverbally relate their names (i.e., "A' goes with B'"). All participants matched the stimuli accurately after training, as well as emitted the trained intraverbals. In the second experiment, we used a multiple baseline design across four participants to assess whether the same training would produce bi-directional intraverbals in the form of "B' goes with A'," and MTS performance consistent with symmetry (BA). All participants responded accurately during matching and intraverbal tests. Across both experiments, participants stated the trained intraverbals while performing the matching task. Results showed that MTS performance can be established solely by verbal behavior training.