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. 2023 Sep 21;40(2):326-344.
doi: 10.1007/s40616-023-00194-z. eCollection 2024 Dec.

Summation in Convergent Multiple Control Over Selection-Based Verbal Behavior

Juliana S C D Oliveira  1 , Reagan Elaine Cox  1 , Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir  1
Affiliations

Summation in Convergent Multiple Control Over Selection-Based Verbal Behavior

Juliana S C D Oliveira et al. Anal Verbal Behav. .

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to experimentally model summation in convergent multiple control over selection-based verbal behavior. Eight undergraduate students participated. In divergent-convergent tact training, a three-choice match-to-sample task was used to establish two selection-based tacts for each of five pictorial stimuli. One textual stimulus served as positive comparison for two pictorial samples, the end result being that each sample controlled selection of two textual stimuli and each textual stimulus selection was controlled independently by two samples. Pre and posttest trials included either a single pictorial stimulus or a two-stimulus compound as a sample, and all five textual stimuli as comparisons. During posttests, each compound predominantly occasioned selections of the textual stimulus related to both of its elements, demonstrating convergent control. Textual stimuli were more likely to be selected in the presence of compounds containing two controlling elements than in the presence of each controlling element in isolation. This finding provides support for a theoretically important aspect of Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40616-023-00194-z.

Keywords: Multiple control; Summation; Verbal behavior.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestsThe authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Experimental stimuli and diagram of trained and tested relations. Note. From Cliparts.co, 2022. (http://cliparts.co/clipart/3581553). The top panel depicts trained relations. Selections of two different B stimuli were reinforced in the presence of the same A stimulus, in different trials. Each trial included only one of the two target B stimuli among comparisons. The bottom panels depict responses scored as correct in single-element (bottom left) and compound (bottom right) trials. All B stimuli were available as comparisons in test trials
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Proportional selection of a single syllable in the presence of its two relevant A elements and the two elements presented in compound at posttest. Note. Individual data points and lines represent data from individual participants; gray bars represent means
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Proportional selection of a single syllable in the presence of its two relevant A elements and the two elements presented in compound at pretest. Note. Individual data points and lines represent data from individual participants; gray bars represent means
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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