Generalized Reflexive Responding and Cross-Modal Tactile Transfer of Stimulus Function in Children with Autism
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Generalized Reflexive Responding and Cross-Modal Tactile Transfer of Stimulus Function in Children with Autism Jordan Belisle 1 & Kate Huggins 2 & Meghan Doherty 2 & Caleb R. Stanley 2,3 & Mark R. Dixon 2 Accepted: 18 September 2020/ # Association for Behavior Analysis International 2020
Abstract We sought to evaluate the efficacy of successive matching training for establishing generalized reflexive matching across 4 children with autism. In Experiment 1, differential reinforcement with delay fading was efficacious in establishing “yes” and “no” matching and nonmatching responses in 2 participants when 2 identical or nonidentical picture stimuli were presented. In addition, emergent visual–visual reflexive relational responses were observed using novel picture stimuli in a transfer test phase. In Experiment 2, differential reinforcement alone was efficacious in establishing matching and nonmatching responses in the other 2 participants when 2 identical or nonidentical objects were presented. Transfer to identical objects presented through touch (i.e., tactile discrimination) was additionally observed for both participants. Procedures in the study were adapted from the PEAK Relational Training System to aid in clinical replication, and the translational results have implications for language training with individuals with autism. Keywords Autism . PEAK . Reflexivity . Stimulus equivalence
Stimulus equivalence theory (Sidman, 1971; Sidman & Tailby, 1982) and contemporary extensions (e.g., relational frame theory, bidirectional naming; Hayes, BarnesHolmes, & Roche, 2001; Horne & Lowe, 1996) have significantly progressed behavior science by describing the emergent nature of language in the absence of direct-acting contingencies (Barnes-Holmes & Barnes-Holmes, 2000; Hayes et al., 2001). Stimulus equivalence requires the demonstration of four events: reflexivity, symmetry,
* Jordan Belisle [email protected]
1
Psychology Department, Missouri State University, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO, USA
2
Psychology Department, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA
3
Autism Studies, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior
transitivity, and the transfer of stimulus function (see Sidman & Tailby, 1982, for an indepth description of each of these behavioral phenomena). Reflexivity occurs when a participant can match identical stimuli (A = A), symmetry occurs when a participant is taught to match a stimulus A with a stimulus B (A = B) and can match the stimulus B with the stimulus A (B = A) without direct reinforcement, and transitivity occurs when a participant can match two stimuli based on a mutual relationship with a third stimulus (e.g., taught A = B and B = C, derive A = C and C = A). Symmetrical and transitive responding are considered arbitrarily applicable relational responses (Hayes et al., 2001), as formal similarity between class members is not required. Reflexivity, which emerges prior to symmetry and transitivity, encompasses a large class of relation
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