Emergence of Naming Relations and Intraverbals after Auditory Stimulus Pairing: Effects of Probing the Listening Skill First

Abstract

We analyzed the emergence of selections in response to names heard, tacts, and intraverbals as a result of observing auditory stimulus pairing in 11 typical developing adults, as an extension of a previous study by Carnerero and Perez-Gonzalez (The Psychological Record, 65(3), 509–522, 2015). In Part 1, four sounds of musical instruments were paired with their respective names spoken by the experimenter; in Part 2, the sounds were paired with their native country names spoken by the experimenter. Participants in Condition 1 received the pairing sequence of Part 1 and 2; participants in Condition 2 received the pairing sequence of Part 2 and 1. After pairing, selections of buttons that emitted the sound corresponding to the names or countries heard emerged in all participants and tacts emerged in most participants. After the completion of the two pairing phases, intraverbals emerged in three participants of Condition 1. Two participants of Condition 2 also demonstrated instances of emergence, but fewer than those of Condition 1. Thus, the sequence of the pairing phases influenced the emergence. The findings have direct implications on the teaching procedures to facilitate these types of emergence.