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| Verbal Behavior: From Private to Public |
| Monday, May 25, 2020 |
| 3:00 PM–3:50 PM |
| Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Level 1, Salon I |
| Area: VBC; Domain: Translational |
| Chair: Sandhya Rajagopal (Florida Institute of Technology) |
| CE Instructor: Sandhya Rajagopal, M.S. |
| Abstract: In this symposium, the authors will discuss topics related to both private and public verbal behavior. The first presenter compared skill acquisition rates across two different conditions: similar versus different response topographies across operants. Results showed that the participants acquired skills in fewer trials during the similar-responses teaching condition when compared to the different-responses teaching condition. The second presenter will discuss a literature review examining three types of private events--emotions, non-pain sensations, and pain--studied in six behavior analytic journals. Studies were coded according to the publishing journal, a decade of publication, population, dependent and independent variables, nature of privacy, and data collection methods used. The final presenter will discuss mnemonic recognition from a behavior analytic perspective. He will argue that the relevant response is covert, more specifically a discriminated sensory/perceptual response, and that such responses can acquire divergent stimulus functions, both 1) functioning as a reinforcer and 2) changing the probability of emission of subsequent responses. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Target Audience: Clinicians interested in Verbal Behavior |
| Learning Objectives: 1. Audience members will be able to describe multiple operant training. 2. Audience members will be able to describe the three types of private events studies in behavior analytic journals. 3. Audience members will be to describe the behavior analytic perspective of mnemonic recognition. |
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| Effects of Multiple Operant Training Across Similar and Different Response Topographies |
| (Applied Research) |
| ASHLEY FELDE (Florida Tech), Katie Nicholson (Florida Institute of Technology), Michael Passage (Florida Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: This study compared skill acquisition rates across two different conditions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first condition presented similar response topographies across different operants, including tacts, intraverbals, and listener selection responses (e.g., “chocolate” taught as a tact, intraverbal, and listener selection response). The second condition presented different response topographies across the operants (e.g., “tea” taught as a tact, “milk” taught as an intraverbal and “sugar” taught as a listener selection response). Secondary measures included functional independence of the operant classes and children’s teaching condition preference. We used an adapted alternating treatment design embedded in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants to examine rates of skill acquisition. Results showed that the participants acquired skills in fewer trials during the similar-responses teaching condition when compared to the different-responses teaching condition. The participants did not show generalization across the operants, supporting prior research on the functional independence of the operants. The participants showed idiosyncratic preferences for the two teaching conditions. |
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| Private Events in Behavior Analysis: A Review |
| (Theory) |
| KATIE NICHOLSON (Florida Institute of Technology), Sandhya Rajagopal (Florida Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: Private events have been defined as verbal responses involving private stimuli, covert responses, or both. Although there has been debate over whether private events belong in a science of behavior due to fundamental inaccessibility, behavior analysts have conducted experimental studies involving private events and their public correlates. Understanding variables influencing emission of language related to private events becomes especially important when considering special populations, such as individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The present literature review examined three types of private events--emotions, non-pain sensations, and pain--studied in six behavior analytic journals. Studies were coded according to the publishing journal, decade of publication, population, dependent and independent variables, nature of privacy, and data collection methods used. Additionally, studies were grouped by contribution to components culminating in teaching tacts of private events, including definition, measurement, discrimination, emitting collateral responses, and tacting private events. Areas of need as well as future directions are discussed. |
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| Mnemonic Recognition and the Defective Contingency |
| (Theory) |
| DANIELE ORTU (University of North Texas) |
| Abstract: Mnemonic recognition can be puzzling from a behavior analytic perspective. What appears to be a simple exposure to a visual stimulus now, may allow a person to differentially respond to that same stimulus a week later, compared to a set of newly presented stimuli. The repertoire appears to be very sensitive to changes in stimulus control, in the absence of the emission of an overt response. More specifically, in the example described above, the antecedent part of the three-term contingency is clearly identifiable, while the response and the consequence are not. We argue here that the response is covert, more specifically a discriminated sensory/perceptual response, and that such response can acquire divergent stimulus functions: e.g., both 1) functioning as a reinforcer and 2) changing the probability of the emission of subsequent responses. The provided behavioral interpretation is discussed in light of neuroanatomical considerations and Palmer's concept of the repertoire (2009). |
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