A Comparison of Training Procedures on the Emergence of Intraverbal-Tacts

Vocal exchanges are often comprised of responses under multiple sources of stimulus control. For example, a picture may contain multiple components, and an instructor may ask a learner to respond differentially to questions about the picture (e.g., "who," "what," "where," "color," "number," "shape"). The format of teaching may affect the development of verbal behavior under multiple sources of stimulus control. Therefore, the present investigation compared teaching stimuli in isolation to teaching with compound stimuli on the emergence of verbal behavior to evaluate methods that assist with correctly answering questions about compound stimuli. This study used a translational model with undergraduate students in Experiment 1 and replicated the procedures with a child with autism spectrum disorder in Experiment 2. Probes of untrained speaker and listener relations were conducted prior to training and following the emergence of the multiply controlled intraverbal tacts. Results show limited differences in the impact of training stimuli on acquisition and emergence. Results also show trial arrangements that may promote the emergence of untrained verbal relations. Potential clinical applications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40616-024-00214-6.