Association for Behavior Analysis International

Numerous research studies have investigated teaching methods and potential prerequisite skills that lead to generative learning across different populations. The current symposium includes basic, translational, and applied studies related to bidirectional naming and equivalence relations, with adults and children with autism as participants. The first presentation evaluates whether cover, copy, and compare study strategy could be used to teach equivalence relations to undergraduate students and whether drawing could occur as a form of mediating response in testing. The second presentation assesses the effects of multiple exemplar training on both the development of bidirectional naming and stimulus generalization in children with autism. The third presentation discusses two experiments that examined whether intraverbal bidirectional naming facilitated the formation of generalized equivalence classes with adults. Finally, the fourth study is an applied study that assesses class expansion and transfer of function after instructive feedback training with children with autism. The symposium concludes with thoughtful comments from the discussant.

Participants should be able to define and describe stimulus equivalence relations. Participants should be able to define and describe verbal operants.

The present study is an extension of Jennings and Miguel (2017) by investigating whether intraverbal bidirectional naming (I-BiN) facilitated the formation of generalized equivalence classes. This study includes two experiments (E1 and E2), four adults participated in each. Both experiments used a one-to-many training structure, matching-to-sample (MTS) tests, I-BiN tests, post-sorting tests, and social-validity survey. Stimulus generalization was measured across four novel stimulus sets. Pre-MTS test, tact test- and training followed by listener test, intraverbal training, (A´B’ and A´C’) were completed similarly in E1 and E2. After mastery of the training conditions, two different test sequences were introduced: In E1, successive blocks of post-MTS tests of across baseline, symmetry and equivalence relations and I-BiN tests was divided, while in E2, tests were merged into one block I-BiN and MTS-test, respectively. Then, both experiments exposed the participants to sorting tests. The results demonstrated that the establishment of few intraverbals led to correct responding during I-BiN and MTS tests, and the result was confirmed by the sorting tests, as well as all eight participants achieved mastery during the generalization tests. Vocal MTS-test and a post-experimental interview confirmed the use of tacts and I-BiN during MTS-tests.

Cover, Copy, and Compare (CCC) is a study strategy in which students cover their notes, attempt to copy them, and then compare for accuracy. This translational study evaluated whether CCC could be used to teach equivalence relations to undergraduate students and whether drawing may occur as a form of mediating response in testing. A video training package and experimenter feedback was used to teach participants to engage in CCC with notes in the form of a graphic organizer (GO). During the CCC condition, participants constructed GOs depicting the relations among the three equivalence classes, each consisting of three familiar stimuli. After completing CCC, six of the seven participants scored over 90% on their first matching-to-sample (MTS) posttest. We evaluated generalization of the CCC strategy with a three five-member classes of all abstract stimuli. All participants utilized the CCC strategy, constructed GOs with fidelity, and scored over 90% on the first posttest. Social validity data indicated participants found the approach highly acceptable. These findings provide additional evidence of the benefits of teaching mediating responses to produce high equivalence yields, particularly visual bidirectional naming (V-BiN; Miguel, 2018) as participants visualized the images then reacted to them by drawing them on their GO.

In the past several years, verbal behavior research has focused on teaching methods that lead to generative learning so not every single operant needs to be taught. One of these strategies, multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) is said to lead to the transfer between speaker and listener repertoires consistent with bidirectional naming (BiN). However, MEI is often confused with Multiple Exemplar Training (MET) which has previously been shown to lead to stimulus generalization. As an attempt to distinguish between the kind of generativity obtained with each procedure, a recent study with preschool children diagnosed with autism has demonstrated that MEI produces responding consistent with BiN, but not stimulus generalization. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effects of MET, rather than MEI, on both the development of bidirectional naming (BiN) and stimulus generalization with children with autism. So far results show that MET leads to the development of stimulus generalization, but it is inconsistent in the development BiN for targeted sets, supporting the functional distinction between MEI and MET.