Recombinative reading derived from pseudoword instruction in a miniature linguistic system

Electrophysiological analysis of stimulus variables in equivalence relations

Recently, electrophysiological measures have been used to evaluate the functional overlap between semantic relations and laboratory-defined equivalence relations with abstract stimuli. Several studies using semantic judgment procedures have shown that accompanying EEG-measured neural activity for stimulus pairs from equivalence classes is very similar to that of word pairs from participants' native language. However, those studies often included pronounceable elements (e.g., written nonsense syllables) as at least one member of the experimentally defined classes. The present study conducted EEG studies that contrasted classes with and without such elements. Two groups of undergraduate students completed a matching-to-sample procedure to establish 3 4-member equivalence classes. For Group 1, samples and comparisons were pronounceable pseudowords and abstract figures. For Group 2, the matching-to-sample stimuli were abstract figures only. EEG data recorded during the semantic judgment tasks showed waveform patterns compatible with prior studies of semantic relations in Group 1 but not in Group 2.

Reading comprehension with the Go/No-Go procedure with compound stimuli

The present study investigated whether the Go/No-Go procedure with compound stimuli produces emergent relations among dictated words (A), pictures (B), and printed words (C) and the emergence of textual behavior (CD) using a multiple probe design across word sets. Three preschool children were exposed to 4 phases: (1) pretests for BC, CB, and CD relations, (2) pretraining with known stimuli, (3) AB and AC training, and (4) posttests for BC, CB, and CD relations. During AB and AC training, responses to A1B1, A2B2, A1C1, and A2C2 compound stimuli, but not to A1B2, A2B1, A1C2, and A2C1, were reinforced. The results showed that all participants met the learning criterion and demonstrated emergence of BC and CB relations (i.e., relations between pictures and printed words), and CD relations (i.e., textual behavior) after training. These results suggest that the Go/No-Go procedure with compound stimuli is an effective alternative for establishing reading comprehension.

Aprendizagem de rudimentos de leitura musical com ensino cumulativo e não cumulativo de relações condicionais

RESUMO O estudo avaliou o efeito de treino cumulativo de relações condicionais sobre a aprendizagem de rudimentos de leitura musical. Os estímulos foram sequências de notas nas modalidades: sonora (A), notação em clave de sol (B) e figura de teclado (C). Cinco estudantes universitários realizaram a Condição Não Cumulativa, composta por treinos AB e BC e testes, com dois exemplares diferentes em cada fase experimental. Na Condição Cumulativa, outros cinco participantes aprenderam as relações condicionais com os exemplares da Fase 2 acumulados aos da Fase 1. A Condição Cumulativa mostrou a manutenção de um número significativamente maior de relações AB, desempenhos superiores nos testes de formação de classes de estímulos equivalentes e escores mais elevados de leitura recombinativa do que a Condição Não Cumulativa.

Sentence production after listener and echoic training by prelingual deaf children with cochlear implants

Three children with neurosensory deafness who used cochlear implants were taught to match video clips to dictated sentences. We used matrix training with overlapping components and tested for recombinative generalization. Two 3 × 3 matrices generated 18 sentences. For each matrix, we taught 6 sentences and evaluated generalization with the remaining 3 sentences. We also tested for emergent tacting with all 18 video clips. After training, the participants were able to match untrained video clips to recombined dictated sentences. Tacts of both trained and untrained video clips increased for all participants.