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The behavior-analytic approach to language and cognition is consistent with parsimony and coherence in explanatory systems within and across fields of science. Some disagreement exists regarding the appropriate composition of the conceptual tool kit that behavior analysts apply to problems in language and cognition, but ultimately these differences in perspective are minor within the context of shared goals and assumptions. This article summarizes two lines of research guided by the analyses of derived relational responding in terms of contingencies or stimulus correlations acting directly upon its components. The two lines of research eventually produced different conclusions regarding the utility of the analysis within the boundaries of the parameters that were studied. Successful prediction and control of DRR should serve to identify strength and boundaries of utility of different levels of analysis, which could lead to theoretical progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In laboratory symbolic matching-to-sample (MTS) tasks, acquisition commonly proceeds via trial and error, whereas in applied settings, MTS instruction typically includes prompting and prompt-fading strategies. We examined the effects of error-contingent prompts in symbolic MTS under sample-first and comparison-first presentation arrangements. Three children (4–6 years) participated in each of two experiments. Each participant received two instructional sessions in each of four conditions, with new stimuli in each session. Dependent measures included terminal accuracy, items mastered, and overall efficiency across participants. In Experiment 1, error-contingent prompts facilitated acquisition under the comparison-first but not under the sample-first arrangement. In Experiment 2, the temporal arrangement of error correction trials was altered such that prompts did not delay the presentation of comparison stimuli. With this change, error-contingent prompts facilitated acquisition under both stimulus presentation arrangements. The results suggest that in a sample-first presentation format, prompts may be ineffective if they delay comparison presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pérez-González, Herszlikowicz, and Williams (2008) demonstrated the emergence of novel intraverbal responses following the training of several intraverbals. The present study replicated and extended that study by separating two training conditions that were combined in the previous study. Nine typically developing children ages 6--7 years were first taught A--B and B--C verbal relations and then probed on 12 A--B, B--C, B--A, C--B, A--C, and C--A verbal relations. If novel intraverbal relations did not emerge, each participant received either category-name training or exemplar-name training. If novel intraverbals did not emerge after training in one of those conditions, the participant was exposed to the other training condition. Emergence of all novel intraverbals was observed for 4 of the 6 participants who received category-and exemplar-name training, but only after they had completed both training conditions. An error analysis suggested that errors following A--B and B--C training were attributable to lack of contextual control over the vocal responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]