Verbal Responding Research Articles

Effects of Verbal Responding on Movement in fMRI

Effects of Verbal Responding on Movement in fMRI

Second-order discrimination in humans: the roles of explicit instructions and constructed verbal responding

In two experiments, university students were trained on a conditional discrimination task (second-order matching to sample) involving various types of stimulus presentations and experimenter-provided instructions. The students' acquisition of conceptual behavior was assessed during transfer tests defined at the intramodal, extramodal and extrarelational levels. On each transfer trial, subjects had to construct their own verbal description of the stimulus being chosen and of the stimulus relation controlling their current choice. The main finding was that conceptual behavior during test trials developed largely independently of the training conditions. The acquisition of conceptual behavior in these experiments may be attributed to the subjects' constructing their own verbal descriptions on each transfer trial. These findings are discussed in relation with the notions of problem solving, generalized responding, and rule-governance.

Language production: Methods and methodologies

Methodological problems have been a longstanding barrier to the systematic exploration of issues in language production. Recently, however, production research has broadened beyond traditional observational approaches to include a diverse set of experimental paradigms. This review surveys the observational and experimental methods that are used to study production, the questions to which the methods have been directed, and the theoretical assumptions that the methods embody. Although tailored to the investigation of language production, most of the methods are closely related to others that are widely employed in cognitive research. The common denominator of these procedures is verbal responding. Because the processing complexities of verbal responses are sometimes overlooked in research on memory, perception, attention, and language comprehension, the methodological assumptions of production research have implications for other experimental procedures that are used to elicit spoken words or sentences.

Effects of verbal plus gestural matrix training on sentence production in a patient with primary progressive aphasia

Abstract This research examined the effectiveness of verbal plus gestural treatment on the acquisition and generalization of present, past and future verb tenses in NP + V + NP sentence production in a primary progressive aphasic subject. Using a single-subject multiple-baseline design across behaviours as well as a matrix training procedure, treatment and generalization effects both within and across language matrices were examined. The relation between gestural and verbal responding was also examined post-hoc using a modified reversal design component. Results indicated improved production of sentences utilizing trained verb tenses and generalization to untrained verbs within tense. Paired gestural plus verbal responding resulted in higher levels of correct oral sentence production than verbal training alone. Findings are discussed in the context of brain mechanisms underlying gestural and verbal language production.

Elective Mutism: special treatment of a special case

abstract A fourteen‐year‐old boy, who had stopped using verbal language outside his home at the age of four, was diagnosed as electively mute in connection with a epidemiologicallongitudinal research programme (Rutter, 1982) conducted in Norway during 1989‐‐92. The treatment programme based on principles for contingency management, was carried out in school by the class teacher, instructed and supervised by the project leader, who also saw the boy and his mother regularly. The boy was compliant and cooperative in following the treatment procedures, but he was strongly resistant to behavioural interventions aimed at initiating verbal responding (Labbe & Williamson, 1984). The treatment became a ‘game’ where he was always the winner, with an adverse reinforcing effect (Sluckin et al., 1991). New approaches had to be tried, and finally an escape procedure (Piersel & Kratochwill, 1981) released the first verbal responding outside his home. After a couple of weeks he had achieved normal speech at school and al...

Corpus d'extraits musicaux: indices relatifs à la familiarité, à l'âge d'acquisition et aux évocations verbales.

The objective of the present study was to establish estimates of familiarity, of age of acquisition, and of verbal associations in relation to 144 musical excerpts drawn from the repertoire of tunes that is expected to be shared by all French-speaking Québec university students. The excerpts were synthesized monophonic lines (which can be found in Appendix B) that were tape recorded. A first group of 60 university students were required to indicate their degree of familiarity (on a 5-point scale) with each excerpt and the age period at which they learned the excerpt. A second group of 60 students indicated whether the original tune was vocal or instrumental as well as the first words that came to mind. In each group, half the subjects were presented with the 144 excerpts in a different order. Overall, the material was found to be highly familiar and to have been mostly learned between the ages of 5 and 15. Most of the excerpts were easily categorized as vocal or instrumental with the exception of 26 excerpts, which were accordingly classified as ambiguous. Finally, 57% of the excerpts elicited verbal responses. There was a high level of agreement in some of the verbal responses provided, referred to as dominant responses. In contrast, 21 excerpts gave rise to very little verbal recall, hence specifying a subset of "purely" musical material. All indices of familiarity, of acquisition age, and of verbal responses (specifying the overall rate of verbal responding, the content of the dominant response as well as its frequency of occurrence) are provided for each excerpt in Appendix A. Finally, the most interesting aspect of the present study was revealed by the analysis of the errors in verbal recall. Subjects tended to fill in missing elements by words that fitted the meaning of song lyrics as well as the temporal structure of the music. For instance, instead of providing "MON BEAU SAPIN", subjects would provide "mon grand sapin". The use of such a procedure is consistent with the notion that music serves as a memory aid which facilitates the communication of news and ideas.

A comparison of peer verbal responding directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders and nonhandicapped peers

One of the primary intents of inclusion is the maximization of interaction between persons with and without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal responding that peers directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders and, to this effect, several comparisons were made: verbal responding of peers directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders was compared to verbal responding of peers directed toward regular class adolescents; verbal responding of peers directed toward the same adolescents with behavioral disorders was compared across their self-contained and integrated settings; and verbal responding of peers directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders in integrated settings was compared to verbal responding of peers directed toward regular class adolescents. Data, collected in real time using portable microcomputers, focused on positive, negative, and neutral social responding and positive, negative, and neutral academic responding. All verbal responding of peers directed toward 14 adolescents with behavioral disorders and 14 regular class peers was recorded. Data were analyzed by group and setting, as well as by social or academic content. Results of the study support inclusion, with high levels of peer responding directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders in integrated classrooms. Almost all peer responding was positive or neutral in content. Results were discussed as they related to placement of students, social skills training, and previous research.

Using a Generalized Verbal Response to Decrease Unrelated Verbal Responses of a Severely Retarded Adult

Echolalia is viewed as the pathological repetition of vocalizations and is seen as an obstacle to normal language development. Unrelated or contextually inappropriate responses are equally problematic and are also seen as an obstacle to the development of language. This study examined the effect of acquiring a generalized verbal response (i.e., “I don’t know”) to questions for which the subject did not know the answer on the occurrence of (a) echoic, (b) unrelated responding, and (c) appropriate verbal responding. The subject was a severely retarded 49-year-old female. She was taught a generalized verbal response to one set of questions for which she did not know the answers and generalization across another set of questions was examined. The effect was an increase in appropriate verbal responding and a decrease in unrelated verbal responding. No effect upon echoic responding was seen.

A comparison of the verbal social behavior of adolescents with behavioral disorders and regular class peers.

Improved social functioning of adolescents with behavioral disorders (BD) is of critical importance for the successful integration of these students in school, domestic, vocational, and community settings. Three comparisons were addressed in the study; overall verbal responding of BD adolescents was compared to verbal responding of their regular class peers, verbal responding of the same BD adolescents was compared across their self-contained and mainstreamed settings, and responding of the BD adolescents when in mainstreamed settings was compared to responding of regular class peers. Portable microcomputers were used to collect data across 10 categories of verbal responding for 14 BD adolescents and 14 regular class peers. Results supported several general conclusions: (a) Adolescents with behavioral disorders engaged in more negative verbal responding than their regular class peers; (b) BD adolescents exhibited less inappropriate verbal behavior when in the mainstream than when self-contained; and (c) when in the mainstream, the verbal behavior of BD students was similar to that of their regular class peers. Implications of the general and specific differences that emerged from the comparisons were presented and discussed.

The role of verbal output time in the effects of word length on immediate memory

In three experiments, we examined the role of delays within overt verbal responding in causing effects of word length on immediate recall. Although a phonological memory decay mechanism has been implicated by past research on word length effects, the exact basis of the effect remains unclear. The added difficulty of recalling longer words could arise both while subjects attempt to rehearse words silently and while they attempt to repeat words aloud. To examine the latter mechanism, the lengths of words in the first and second halves of lists to be recalled were varied independently, and both forward and backward recall orders were used. Recall of each word was found to be influenced by the total pronunciation time for all items to be recalled prior to that word, although there was an additional advantage for the last item output. The results clarify and generally support the theory of the articulatory loop, and the method permits an improved analysis of immediate memory into decay-based and other factors.

An adapted language training strategy in the treatment of an electively mute male child

The present study investigated the usefulness of an Adapted Language Training Program in the treatment of an electively mute seven-year-old male. Training utilized a multiple baseline across behaviors single subject design. Four phases of treatment focused on non-verbal attending, verbal imitative responding, and functional language responding. Systematic attempts at promoting generalization of verbal responses across situations and persons were employed throughout the language program. A 90% appropriate response criterion was reached for all measures. Non-verbal attending and imitative verbal responding remained above criterion at the termination of treatment, but functional language responding regressed to below criterion. Generalization of verbal responses was noted outside of the training sessions.

SAYING AND DOING: A CONTINGENCY‐SPACE ANALYSIS

Correspondences between verbal responding (saying) and nonverbal responding (doing) may be organized in terms of the classes of verbal/nonverbal relations into which particular instances of verbal/nonverbal response sequences can enter. Contingency spaces, which display relations among events in terms of the probability of one event given or not given another, have been useful in analyses of nonverbal behavior. We derive a taxonomy of verbal/nonverbal behavior relations from a contingency space that takes into account two conditional probabilities: the probability of a nonverbal response given a verbal response and that probability given the absence of the verbal response. For example, positive correspondence may be said to exist as a response class when the probability of doing is high given saying but is otherwise low. Criteria for other generalized classes, including negative correspondence, follow from this analysis.

The Operant Treatment of Excessive Verbal Rumination and Negative Emotional Arousal in a Case of Child Molestation

A 5-year old subject was treated for molestation-induced behavior problems consisting of excessive verbal ruminations and concamitant negative emotional responding. Treatment invovled utilization of a modified operant DRO procedure using the subject's mother as primary behavior change agent. Data based observations predicated on home-environment and generalization probe sources demonstrated dramatic reductions in problem behaviors targeted for intervention. Treatment gains remained stable over a 12-month period as indicated by extended follow-up assessment queries.

Increasing spontaneous verbal responding in autistic children using a time delay procedure.

One oft-cited problem with teaching speech skills to autistic children is the failure of the speech to be spontaneous. That is, the children's speech often remains under the control of the verbal behavior of others rather than under the control of other nonverbal referents in the environment. We investigated the effectiveness of a time delay procedure to increase the spontaneous speech of seven autistic children. Initially, the experiment presented a desired object (e.g., cookie) and immediately modeled the appropriate response "I want (cookie)." Gradually, as the child imitated the vocalization, the experimenter increased the time between presentation of the object and the modeled vocalization in an attempt to transfer stimulus control of the child's vocalization from the experimenter's model to the object. Results indicated that all the children learned to request items spontaneously and generalized this behavior across settings, people, situations, and to objects which had not been taught. These results are discussed in relation to the literature on spontaneous speech, prompting, and generalization.

Verbal responding under a fixed-interval schedule: effects of D-amphetamine

The purpose of this study was to characterize the effects of d-amphetamine (5–30 mg) on rate and distribution of verbal responding which was maintained under a fixed-interval (FI) schedule of reinforcement. Hired volunteer subjects simultaneously wrote and spoke narrative monologues; points were delivered under a multiple 5 min fixed-interval 1 min time out schedule for closure of a voice operated relay (VOR). Under placebo control conditions, most subjects paused for 2–4 minutes following the 1 min time out then spoke and wrote during later portions of the interval. d-Amphetamine increased both the number of words written and seconds if VOR closure in a dose-related manner. In subjects who showed typical FI response patterning, the drug generally decreased the length of early interval pausing and increased low control amounts of verbal responding which occurred early in the interval proportionately more than higher amounts of verbal responding seen during later portions of the interval. These drug effects on response patterning were generally similar to those see in infrahuman species responding under fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement.

Preschoolers' Awareness of Television Advertising

The ability of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children to correctly identify videotaped TV segments as programs and commercials was examined. While this ability improved with age, responding was above chance for each age group. The children used both auditory and visual cues in making correct identifications. The results indicate that, when a task requiring minimal verbal responding is used, preschoolers demonstrate an awareness of commercials as distinct from programs. The social policy implications of the results are discussed.

The Effectiveness of Music as a Stimulus and as a Contingent Reward in Promoting the Spontaneous Speech of Three Physically Handicapped Preschoolers

This study investigated the effect of using music es a stimulus and es a contingent reward in a program of music activities aimed at developing the spontaneous speech of three preschool physically handicapped children. Three subjects participated in individual sessions of structured activities in which their verbal responses to specified tasks were observed and recorded. During the intervention phase these tasks were based on music activities. A multiple baseline across subjects design was employed, involving the measurement of four variables across the three subjects. These variables included appropriate verbal responses to questions, initiation of verbal interaction, verbalization during story retelling, and on-task behavior. A reversal phase was instituted to compare the progress of the individual subjects under successive baseline and intervention conditions. The major finding of the study was that increases in verbal responding accompanied the incorporation of music activities into the individual sessions. The effectiveness of employing behavioral observation techniques in music therapy research is discussed.

Analyses of client variables in a series of psychotherapy sessions with two child clients.

Studied the process of child psychotherapy by means of analyses of client verbal behaviors. Audio-video recordings were made of nine intermittent psychotherapy sessions with 2 child clients, aged 8 and 12. A randomized mastertape of 4-minute segments was rated for self-exploration by means of the Carkhuff scale. Transcripts were categorized by means of an extended Snyder system and a preliminary set of grammatical variables. Transcripts then were minutized, and all client variables were intercorrelated and factor-analyzed. According to the research expectations, a high level of interrater reliability for the Carkhuff scale and high levels of interjudge agreement for the extended Snyder system were found. Analyses of the client variables demonstrated the nature of each client's verbal responding as well as their pattern of change across successive therapy sessions. The overall verbal response behavior of each client was summarized best through the factor analyses. Communalities and individual differences between the clients were discussed. Future directions for the study of client variables in child psychotherapy process research were suggested.

A Rigorous Test of the Proposition That Musical Intervals Have Different Psychological Effects

Musical intervals, the elementary tonal relations of music, are thought to have widely disparate psychological effects. However, in previous empirical investigations of this proposition, effects due to musical intervals have been routinely confounded with those due to the frequencies, frequency differences, and mean frequencies of the component tones of the interval. An experimental design that can provide an unconfounded musical-interval effect was employed in the present study, in which ratings for 14 musical intervals formed at two different mean frequencies were collected from 16 subjects. Although the results indicated that certain musical intervals do indeed differ in their psychological effects, 7 of the 14 intervals were never discriminated from one another on any of the 11 rating scales, and the number of pairwise discriminations observed among intervals was considerably less than the maximum number possible. Thus, although the present results provide the first rigorous demonstration that the musical interval factor can affect verbal responding, they provide at the same time only partial support for the popular notion that each musical interval has a unique psychological effect.

Elective mutism: Generalization of verbal responding across people and settings

To find a more efficient and effective treatment for elective mutism, the present study combined positive reinforcement and response cost to establish four classes of verbal responding in an electively mute child. A multiple baseline design with probes was used across people, settings, and verbal response classes to assess the generalization of verbal responding. Following the initial positive reinforcement and response cost training procedure, a transfer of stimulus control procedure was used to establish responsive verbal behavior with other adults. Verbal responding was transferred to two individuals during brief 20-min time periods in a single treatment session, and later to additional individuals in the home and school settings. The rapidity and effectiveness of the treatment package suggest the efficacy of using positive reinforcement and response cost as well as a transfer of stimulus control procedure to increase responsive speech in the electively mute child.