The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an alternative/augmentative communication protocol designed to help children and adults with autism and related disabilities to engage in functional communication. The protocol was developed over a number of years and was based on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior. Publications about the…

In a recent article, Schlinger (2008) marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" (1957) by considering its impact on the field of behaviorism and research on verbal behavior. In the present article, we comment on Schlinger's conclusions regarding the impact of the book and highlight the extensions and…

In their reply to my recent article in this journal, "The Long Good-bye: Why B. F. Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" Is Alive and Well on the 50th Anniversary of Its Publication" (Schlinger, 2008a), Dymond and Alonso-Alvarez (2010) assert that I neglected to mention a controversial debate within behavior analysis about the consistency of Skinner's…

The scope of this study was direct observation of verbal behaviors of 14 children with autism spectrum disorders at the onset of an early behavioral intervention (EBI) program delivered in a public services agency. Objectives were to (1) describe frequencies of vocal, verbal, and listener behaviors; (2) evaluate the relationship between the…

We provide an empirically updated Skinnerian-based account of verbal behavior development, describing how the speaker-as-own-listener capability in children (the capability of children to behave as speaker and listener within their own skin) accrues and how it is pivotal to becoming verbal. The theory grew from (a) findings in experiments with…

The year 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of B. F. Skinner's "Verbal Behavior", a book that by Skinner's own account was his most important. The received view, however, is that a devastating review by a young linguist not only rendered Skinner's interpretation of language moot but was also a major factor in ending the hegemony…

The present study examined whether the presentation of stimuli in equivalence relations with consequences increases the operant behavior that produces these consequences. In Experiment 1, both normal words and experimentally trained equivalence stimuli did so with young children. In Experiment 2, results were similar with college students. Here, a…

The perceived inability of behaviorism to deal with complex human behavior has been a recurrent theme among its critics. Although ingenious and subtle, even Skinner's Verbal Behavior (1957) is widely faulted on these grounds, in particular, for failing to explain linguistic generativity (Chomsky, 1959). In Relational Frame Theory: A…

The goal of the present study was to explore the emergence of verbal behavior resulting from the joint control of two antecedent stimuli that are presented together for the first time. Conditional discriminations were used for teaching and for probing. Four stimuli PI, P2, 0 1 , and 02 were samples and four stimuli Al, A2, BI, and B2 were the…

The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate the role of private verbal behavior on the operant performances of human adults, using a protocol analysis procedure with additional methodological controls (the "silent dog" method). Twelve subjects were exposed to fixed ratio 8 and differential reinforcement of low rate 3-s schedules. For…

Behavioral contrast can be defined as an inverse relationship between the conditions of reinforcement in one setting and the rate of responding in another setting. Behavioral contrast is a phenomenon that is reliably demonstrated in pigeons and rats and in the context of multiple experimental preparations with these animals. However, little…

The present studies were undertaken to examine the effects of manipulating delay-interval task (Study 1) and timing of feedback (Study 2) on acquisition and retention. Participants completed a 100-item cumulative final examination, which included 50 items from each laboratory examination, plus 50 entirely new items. Acquisition and retention were…