Control by compound antecedent stimuli in verbal behavior represents an understudied but promising area of research. To date, reference to compound verbal stimulus control has generally only included descriptions of convergent multiple control. A sizeable experimental literature exists on the topic of compound stimulus control, which differs from…

The research studies presented in this special issue rest on two assumptions: firstly, that limitations in verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory (vSTM/WM) capacity are likely to be related to impairments in syntax, and secondly that this relationship is likely to be causal, with impairments in vSTM/WM causing impairments in syntax. In…

Although Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" (1957) was published over 50 years ago, behavior-analytic research on human language and cognition has been slow to develop. In recent years, a new behavioral approach to language known as relational frame theory (RFT) has generated considerable attention, research, and debate. The controversy surrounding RFT…

The study examined the effects of textual prompt fading on the acquisition of intraverbals in 3 individuals with developmental disabilities. An alternating treatments design was used to assess the two independent variables. The first independent variable was transfer of stimulus control without component skill fluency. The second independent…

In the book "Verbal Behavior," Skinner provided a comprehensive, behavioral account of language. While the impact of Skinner's analysis on empirical research has been examined broadly, this review of the literature focused on studies relevant to organizational behavior management (OBM). Both empirical and nonempirical journal articles in OBM were…

When addressing infants, many adults adopt a particular type of speech, known as infant-directed speech (IDS). IDS is characterized by exaggerated intonation, as well as reduced speech rate, shorter utterance duration, and grammatical simplification. It is commonly asserted that IDS serves in part to facilitate language learning. Although…

Conditional discrimination is inherent in the intraverbal relation when one verbal stimulus alters the evocative effect of another verbal stimulus and they collectively evoke an intraverbal response. Rarely in research on conditional discriminations have both conditional and discriminative stimuli been vocal verbal and rarely have the responses…

ONE GROUP OF 16 SS (SUBJECTS) WAS GIVEN A RANDOMIZED LIST OF WORDS THAT CONTAINED EIGHT SERIES OF FOUR ASSOCIATIVELY RELATED NOUNS, WHILE ANOTHER GROUP OF 16 SS WAS GIVEN A RANDOMIZED LIST OF WORDS THAT CONTAINED EIGHT SERIES OF FOUR ASSOCIATIVELY UNRELATED NOUNS, AND THE TASK FOR BOTH GROUPS WAS TO WRITE A STORY THAT CONTAINED THE NOUNS FROM THE…

Each of 464 noun pairs was rated for synonymy on a seven-point scale by college students to provide an extensive set of synonym pairs for use as stimuli in experiments, and to evaluate the effects of word encoding order on perceived synonymy. (SW)

Investigates the role of context in two forms of recognition memory. The first of these involves conscious memory, the second, which may or may not include conscious memory, is manifested by an improvement in performance which occurs when words are repeated in a variety of perceptual recognition and classification tasks. (Author/MES)

Study used two experiments to examine the development of children's comprehension of the use of intonation and belief verbs to mark the relative certainty with which a speaker makes a statement. It is argued that children's understanding of prosody will be best revealed in contexts in which they are required to respond to the pragmatic function of…

Previous studies of language have indicated that various qualifier words (e.g., I know that, probably) attached to statements represent differing degrees of belief in the statements. Nine qualifiers were studied which represent 3 degrees of probability and 3 forms of wording: "certainly, it is certain, I know, Probably, it is likely, I believe,…

Meyer found subjects were faster to determine if a stimulus word was a member of either of two prespecified categories if the categories were close in meaning. A reanalysis of the data favors instead a model emphasizing the role of decision-making processes in categorization and flexibility of task strategies. (CHK)

THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ASSOCIATIVELY RELATED NOUNS EMBEDDED IN CONNECTED DISCOURSE--AT LEAST IN THE CASE OF ITEMS THAT APPEAR IN THE SAME OR IN CONTIGUOUS SENTENCES--ARE STORED MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN ASSOCIATIVELY UNRELATED NOUNS. A 2X2 FACTORIAL DESIGN WAS EMPLOYED (WITH 20 SS IN EACH GROUP) IN WHICH SS WERE ASKED TO…