Association for Behavior Analysis International

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39th Annual Convention; Minneapolis, MN; 2013

Event Details


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Paper Session #384
Conceptual Issues in Verbal Behavior
Monday, May 27, 2013
3:30 PM–4:50 PM
200 H-I (Convention Center)
Area: VBC
Chair: Robert Dlouhy (Western Michigan University)
 

May Teaching of Advanced Listener Skills Facilitate the Acquisition of Complex Intraverbal Behavior: A Theoretical Analysis

Domain: Theory
SVEIN EIKESETH (Akershus University College), Dean Smith (UK Young Autism Project)
 
Abstract:

A common characteristic of the language deficit of children with autism (and other developmental disorders) is their failure to acquire a complex intraverbal repertoire. The difficulties with learning intraverbal behaviors may, in part, be related to the fact that the stimulus control for such behaviors is highly complex, involving verbal stimuli. Teaching such complex stimulus control may perhaps be achieved by teaching listener skills, and a curriculum for doing so is outlined in the present paper. Future research could examine whether teaching of advanced listener behavior may facilitate the acquisition of intraverbal behavior.

 

Assessing the Sources of Control in Studies of Tact-Mand Independence: Making Sense of Conflicting Findings

Domain: Theory
GENAE HALL (Behavior Analysis & Intervention Services)
 
Abstract:

In his (1957) book Verbal Behavior, Skinner argued that mands and tacts are functionally distinct, and a verbal topography acquired as a tact may not automatically occur as a mand. Nevertheless, he also noted that a verbal response form sometimes seems to pass easily from one type of operant to another." This dual possibility raises the question of the relevant controlling variables for functional independence versus transfer between tacts and mands. As pointed out by Petursdottir (2012) and others, a large number of studies on tact-mand independence have yielded seemingly conflicting results. These findings and their interpretations appear to have led to confusion regarding the issue of tact-mand independence. This paper will provide a fine-grained analysis of the apparent sources of control for verbal responding in several studies of tact-mand independence based on the procedures described in the study, reevaluate the conclusions of the study in light of the analysis, and discuss implications for the issue of functional independence versus transfer.

 
English Morphology: A Behavior-Analytic Interpretation
Domain: Theory
ROBERT DLOUHY (Western Michigan University)
 
Abstract: Morphology is the study of the topographical organization of words. A precise definition of “word” has been difficult to create, but Bloomfield’s definition of words as minimal units of syntax is often used. Words, however, are not necessarily simple, as they may have constituents such as roots, stems, and affixes, and be subject to inflection, derivation, and other processes. This paper presents a behavior-analytic interpretation of English morphology. In behavioral terms, words are responses. Some words are sequences of responses, since they co-occur with inflectional and derivational affixes. Such words must be interpreted as small autoclitic/intraverbal framing responses having set sequences of constituent responses. This paper proposes that English words are distinguished from phrases by qualities of their constituent response classes. Following Skinner’s analysis, it will describe English inflections as forms of tact, intraverbal, or autoclitic responses. Derivation is described as an autoclitic that allows listeners to respond to words as members of different response classes, as when listeners respond to adjectives as adverbs due to the presence of a particular suffix as a discriminative stimulus. The paper will conclude with a brief account of derivational productivity, the process by which new words are emitted as series of derivational responses.
 

Structures of Verbal Behavior

Domain: Theory
MICHAEL MEDLAND (Learning Architects)
 
Abstract:

All sciences need a subject matter and a methodology to study that matter. Thus far, behavior analysis has moved forward through the study of relatively simple animal/human operant classes. However, Skinner (1957) called for the analysis of complex verbal behavior, including "intellectual self-management." He provided a methodological analysis of verbal behavior. Thus, showing the world that it could be studied scientifically. Yet, behavior analysis has failed to analyze the subject matter of complex verbal behavior. This presentation outlines the needed analysis of the subject matter and applies it to English, a verbal behavior that is becoming the dominant verbal operant class around the world. It outlines the assumptions and design criteria for this analysis and then explores the "levels" of complex verbal behavior that should guide its teaching from an early age.

 
 

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