Further evaluation of emerging speech in children with developmental disabilities: training verbal behavior

The conceptual basis for many effective language-training programs are based on Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. Skinner described several elementary verbal operants including mands, tacts, intraverbals, and echoics. According to Skinner, responses that are the same topography may actually be functionally independent. Previous research has supported Skinner's assertion of functional independence (e.g., Hall & Sundberg, 1987; Lamarre & Holland, 1985), and some research has suggested that specific programming must be incorporated to achieve generalization across verbal operants (e.g., Sigafoos, Reichle, & Doss, 1990). The present study provides further analysis of the independence of verbal operants when teaching language to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In the current study, 3 participants' vocal responses were first assessed as mands or tacts. Generalization for each verbal operant across alternate conditions was then assessed and subsequent training provided as needed. Results indicated that generalization across verbal operants occurred across some, but not all, vocal responses. These results are discussed relative to the functional independence of verbal operants as described by Skinner.     

Assessment of the functions of vocal behavior in children with developmental disabilities: a replication

Although experimental analysis methodologies have been useful for identifying the function of a wide variety of target behaviors (e.g., Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994), only recently have such procedures been applied to verbal operants (Lerman et al., 2005). In the current study, we conducted a systematic replication of the methodology developed by Lerman et al. Participants were 4 children who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who engaged in limited vocal behavior. The function of vocal behavior was assessed by exposing target vocal responses to experimental analyses. Results showed that experimental analyses were generally useful for identifying the functions of vocal behavior across all participants.     

A preliminary evaluation of the emergence of novel mand forms

Strategies that produce generalized responding are valuable, especially with regard to language acquisition, because relatively little training may result in large behavior changes. Conditions that result in generalized manding were analyzed in the current study. We demonstrated in reversal designs that undesirable or single-word responses were the predominant mand forms of 3 preschool children. Multiple baseline designs with 2 participants and a reversal design with 1 participant were then used to demonstrate the extent to which differential reinforcement of single-word mands (e.g., "cars") or framed mands (e.g., "I want the cars, please") would result in the emergence of other single-word and framed mands for different items (e.g., mands for music, puppets, or puzzles). Results showed that prompting and differential reinforcement of one or two mand frames resulted in the emergence of other framed mands for all participants.     

Age trends in stimulus overselectivity

Stimulus overselectivity refers to the phenomenon whereby stimulus control over behavior is exerted only by a limited subset of the total number of stimuli present during discrimination learning. It often is displayed by individuals with autistic spectrum disorders or learning disabilities, but is not exclusive to those groups. The present studies investigated the impact of aging on stimulus control and overselectivity. Three age groups--18-22, 47-55, and 70-80 year olds-were studied in two experiments. All participants were trained on a simple discrimination task, randomly assigned to one of two conditions (either with or without a distractor task), and then tested for the emergence of overselectivity (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2 responding controlled by the overselected stimulus elements was reduced by introducing a verbal punisher. In subsequent tests, control of behavior by the previously underselected elements from Experiment 1 was enhanced across the two younger age groups but not the oldest group of participants. The results are discussed in relation to the attention-deficit and overshadowing accounts of overselectivity.     

青少年攻击性问卷的编制

在青少年攻击性理论与当代青少年攻击性表现的基础上,结合国外的研究成果以及专家评定,通过探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析,编制了一个适合青少年攻击性评估的问卷。结果发现：（1）自编的“青少年攻击性问卷”由攻击性行为、攻击性认知和攻击性情绪3个分量表构成。攻击性行为分量表由口头攻击、身体攻击、自我发泄3个维度构成;攻击性认知分量表由敌对、恶意、报复心理3个维度构成;攻击性情绪分量表由易怒性、冲动、缺乏自我控制能力3个维度构成;（2）问卷的内部一致性系数和维度与分量表、总分以及分量表与总分的相关系数达到显著水平,量表的内容效度、结构效度、实证效度较高。     

Aggression and bullying

Models are presented describing how bullying others and being bullied are related to proactive and reactive aggressiveness. This was investigated among 1801 pupils in Norwegian schools at the end of grade five and among 2083 pupils at the end of grade eight. Pupils in the two samples were approximately 11 and 14 years old, respectively. The procedure of structural equation modeling with latent variables was followed using LISREL 8.30 to estimate the parameters. Analyses were conducted for boys and girls separately at fifth and eighth grades. Support for the assumptions of factor solution and factorial invariance of the concepts across gender and age was obtained independently from estimating structural parameters. Both proactive and reactive aggressiveness were related to bullying others and to being bullied at Level 5. Among the older pupils, there was a strong relationship between proactive aggressiveness and bullying others, while reactive aggressiveness was much more weakly related to bullying others. Being bullied, on the other hand, was only weakly related to proactive and reactive aggressiveness among the older pupils. Age was therefore an important factor in determining how proactive and reactive aggressiveness were related to bullying. When pupil gender is concerned, power‐related proactive aggressiveness in predicting bullying was a more important factor for boys, while affiliation‐related proactive aggressiveness was a more powerful factor for girls. Aggr. Behav. 27:446–462, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

动作记忆：记忆研究的新范畴

动作记忆是伴随动作操作和意识卷入过程的一种记忆活动, 其强调意识卷入状态和操作情景对记忆活动的影响。以往的研究均采用SPT范式探讨动作记忆及其影响因素, 并提出非策略加工、多通道加工、动作编码和情景整合理论以解释SPT效应, 但由于关注角度不同, 所提的理论模型不能全面揭示动作记忆的加工机制。部分研究试图从来源监控方面探究动作记忆的内在机制, 但研究仍然存在分歧。     

Instructive feedback embedded within group instruction for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder

The present study evaluated the effects of instructive feedback embedded within a group discrete trial teaching to teach tact relations to nine children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder using a nonconcurrent multiple‐baseline design. Dependent variables included correct responses for: primary targets (directly taught), secondary targets (taught via instructive feedback), primary observational targets (directly taught to other members of the group), and secondary observational targets (taught via instructive feedback provided to other members of the group). Results showed that all nine participants reached the mastery criterion for the primary targets, as well as acquired the secondary and observational targets without direct teaching. Clinical implications and areas for future research are provided.     

Improving the interview skills of college students using behavioral skills training

Obtaining a job as a college graduate is partly dependent on interview performance. We used a multiple baseline design across skills to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training with self‐evaluation for five college students. Training effects were evaluated using simulated interviews as baseline and posttraining assessments. All participants acquired targeted skills, but we observed some individual differences. Participants were satisfied with training outcomes and rated the procedures as acceptable. Furthermore, ratings from university staff who provide interview training indicated that training improved performance across several skills for the majority of participants.     

Allocation of speech in conversation

In a replication and extension of Conger and Killeen's (1974) widely cited demonstration of matching in conversations, we evaluated nine participants’ allocation of speech and gaze to two conversational partners. German speakers participated in two 90‐min sessions in which confederates uttered approval on independent variable‐interval schedules. In one of the sessions, confederates uttered approval contingent upon and contiguous with eye contact whereas in the other session approval was uttered independent of the participant's gaze. Several measures of participants’ verbal behavior were taken, including relative duration and rate of speech and gaze. These were compared to confederates’ relative rate of approval and relative duration and rate of talk. The generalized matching equation was fitted to the various relations between participants’ behavior and confederates’ behavior. Conger and Killeen's results were not replicated; participants’ response allocation did not show a systematic relation to the confederates’ relative rate of approval. The strongest relations were to overall talk, rather than approval. In both conditions, the participant talked more to the confederate who talked less—inverse or antimatching. Participants’ gaze showed the same inverse relation to the confederates’ talk. Requiring gaze to be directed toward a confederate for delivery of approval made no difference in the results. The absence of a difference combined with prior research suggests that matching or antimatching in conversations is more likely due to induction than to reinforcement.