Emergence of Topographical Responding Following Equivalence-Based Neuroanatomy Instruction

Abstract

Equivalence-based instruction (EBI) has been utilized to teach a number of college-level academic concepts. The majority of these studies measured effectiveness with selection-based responding (i.e., multiple-choice questions). Recently, researchers have begun examining effectiveness using topographical responding, or responding to open-ended questions. In the current study, participants learned neuroanatomy concepts through section-based EBI, and we measured the effects of instruction on both selection-based and topographical responding. Following equivalence class formation, participants responded with higher accuracy to both selection-based and topographical questions compared to baseline. Furthermore, participants demonstrated higher levels of accuracy with selection-based questions than topographical questions. As a measure of social validity, topographical responding was assessed by a neuroscience professor who was naive to the study. Results demonstrated a typical grade distribution for topographical responding. Implications and future directions for EBI studies evaluating topographical responding are discussed.