A comparison of three strategies for teaching object names

Area of Science:

• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Applied behavior analysis (ABA) requires large-scale outcome demonstrations.
• Evaluating different stimulus presentation methods is crucial for effective instruction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of successive, simultaneous, and combined stimulus presentation in object naming tasks.
• To assess the impact of presentation method on acquisition, posttest performance, and retention.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments systematically replicated across different populations (college adults, children with intellectual disabilities, preschoolers).
• Participants were taught to name Hebrew letters, English words, or American coins using one of three presentation methods.
• A between-subjects factorial design was employed to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• Simultaneous and combined presentation methods yielded significantly better posttest scores compared to the successive method.
• Follow-up data indicated superior retention for participants trained with simultaneous or combined methods.
• While successive presentation led to faster acquisition (fewer trials), the difference in training time was minimal.

Conclusions:

• Simultaneous and combined stimulus presentation are more effective for teaching verbal naming skills than successive presentation.
• These methods offer better long-term retention and are cost-effective for educational and therapeutic settings.
• Findings support the use of simultaneous or combined methods for optimizing object naming instruction.