Cochran's Q Test of Stimulus Overselectivity within the Verbal Repertoire of Children with Autism

Stimulus overselectivity remains an ill-defined concept within behavior analysis, because it can be difficult to distinguish truly restrictive stimulus control from random variation. Quantitative models of bias are useful, though perhaps limited in application. Over the last 50 years, research on stimulus overselectivity has developed a pattern of assessment and intervention repeatedly marred by methodological flaws. Here we argue that a molecular view of overselectivity, under which restricted stimulus control has heretofore been examined, is fundamentally insufficient for analyzing this phenomenon. Instead, we propose the use of the term "overselectivity" to define temporally extended patterns of restrictive stimulus control that have resulted in disproportionate populations of responding that cannot be attributed to chance alone, and highlight examples of overselectivity within the verbal behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder. Viewed as such, stimulus overselectivity lends itself to direct observation and measurement through the statistical analysis of single-subject data. In particular, we demonstrate the use of the Cochran Q test as a means of precisely quantifying stimulus overselectivity. We provide a tutorial on calculation, a model for interpretation, and a discussion of the implications for the use of Cochran's Q by clinicians and researchers.