howarth columbia 0054d 10664

The Induction of Emergent Relations in Children with Severe Cognitive and Language Delays

Matthew Howarth

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2012

2012 Matthew Howarth

All Rights Reserved

ABSTRACT

The Induction of Emergent Relations in Children with Severe Cognitive and Language Delays

Matthew Howarth

In three experiments I sought to experimentally test a source of emergent relations

defined as transitivity by Stimulus Equivalence theory or as combinatorial entailment in

Relational Frame Theory. In Experiment I, the participants were 4 children diagnosed

with autism who also demonstrated significant cognitive and language delays, who were

selected for the experiment because of their inability to demonstrate emergent/derived

relations during baseline. A time-lagged multiple probe design was utilized to determine

the effects of training of a frame of symmetry through the use of a cross modal matching

procedure requiring the participants to match auditory stimuli to visual stimuli and

conversely visual stimuli to auditory stimuli using a computer program. The dependent

variables were the participants responses to the emergent relations of

transitivity/combinatorial entailment, post intervention, with a probe set and a novel set

of stimuli, as well as the participants rate of learning for tacts and textual responses.

Three of four participants were able to demonstrate emergent relations following

intervention. The participant who did not demonstrate derived relations lacked an echoic

repertoire. In Experiment II, I built on the findings of Experiment I to determine if

derived relations could be taught visually, without the use of language. Three males with

severe language disorders, who did not display emergent relations during baseline,

participated in the experiment. A time-lagged multiple probe design, with

counterbalanced probes was used to determine the effects of multiple exemplar training

across visual relations. The dependent variable was the participants responses to

emergent relation probes following intervention. None of the participants were able to

demonstrate derived relations after visual symmetry training. In the third experiment, the

same participants and materials were used as Experiment II, however, in Experiment III,

a tact was taught for each of the stimulus sets in order to determine the role of the tact in

emergent relations. A time lagged multiple probe design, with counterbalanced probes

was used. The dependent variable was again participants responses to emergent relation

probes following tact training. All 3 participants were able to demonstrate derived

relations with the probe and novel set of stimuli following intervention. Results of all

three experiments suggest that both bi-directional/symmetrical relations and verbal

operants are necessary for derived relations.

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

LIST OF TABLES........ v

LIST OF FIGURES... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... vii

CHAPTERS

1 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.. 1

Abstraction...... 1

Stimulus Equivalence..... 6

Naming Theory....... 8

Relational Frame Theory.... 9

Verbal Behavior Development Theory. 11

The role of the tact in emergent relations. 15

Joint stimulus control 19

Experiments on the source of emergent relations. 20

2 EXPERIMENT I... 25

Overview...25

ii

Method.... 27

Participants...... 27

Setting..... 30

Dependent Variable..... 30

Independent Variable... 35

Data collection. 39

Interobserver Agreement. 40

Results. 40

Discussion 48

2 EXPERIMENT II.......... 51

Overview 51

Method... 52

Participants.... 52

Setting... 54

Dependent Variable... 54

Independent Variable.... 58

Data collection.. 63

iii

Interobserver Agreement. 63

Results. 63

Discussion... 68

2 EXPERIMENT III 69

Overview 69

Method... 70

Participants..... 70

Setting.... 70

Independent Variable. 70

Dependent Variable.... 70

Data collection 74

Interobserver Agreement 74

Results 74

Discussion.. 81

5 GENERAL DISCUSSION 82

Major findings and possible explanations 82

Limitations... 87

iv

Future research 87

Conclusion... 88

6 APPENDIX 102

Definition of terms.. 102

v

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page Number

1. Participants Characteristics in Experiment I. 28

2. Examples of Probe Stimuli from Experiment I.. 33

3. Examples of Novel Stimuli from Experiment I. 34

4. Independent Variable Sequence in Experiment I... 38

5. Participant Characteristics in Experiment II... 53

6. Examples of Probe/Novel Stimuli from Experiment II & III. 56

7. Examples of Novel/Probe Stimuli from Experiment II & III. 57

8. Independent Variable Sequence in Experiment II.. 61

9. Stimulus Set for Experiment III.. 72

10. Stimulus Set for Experiment III.. 73

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page Number

1. Illustration of joint stimulus control for a tact. 20

2. Illustration of Dependent Variable derived relations... 35

3. Independent Variable in Experiment I, example of matching picture to spoken word.... 39

4. Independent Variable Experiment I, crossmodal matching acquisition using instructional

stimuli .................................................................................................. 45

5. Responses to emergent relation probes pre & post cross modal matching (CM). 46

6. Participant rate of learning tacts & textual responses pre & post crossmodal matching. 46

7. Independent Variable example from Experiment II.. 56

8. Relations trained as part of the independent variable in Experiment II... 58

9. Independent Variable Experiment II, visual relation training. 66

10. Emergent relations probes Experiment II.... 67

11. Independent Variable Experiment III, tact instruction 78

12. Emergent relations probes Experiment III... 80

vii

Acknowledgement

First, and without measure, I would like to thank my students, from whom I learned more

than I ever could have imagined. Whose contributions to the science, and to the lives of others,

no matter how small, they will never be aware of due to their disabilities. I hope I was able to

make your lives a little more reinforcing.

Thank you Dr. Greer and Dr. Dudek for giving me this opportunity, and for imparting so

much knowledge. You were steadfast in your guidance, sustained me through every challenge,

and what I have gained from you both is incalculable.

I want to thank my friends, classmates, and family, who have supported me

unconditionally throughout this process. This was a long road, both personally and

professionally, and I couldnt have done it without you.

I want to thank Elizabeth Sarto, for hours of editing and feedback, your efforts and

encouragement are much appreciated.

I also want to thank my teaching assistants and student teachers who assisted with the

experiments, and cared so much about our students: Nelcy Garcia, Alexandria Lanter, Suzzanna

Javed, Marisa Bernthal, Matthew Carbone, Emilia Clancy, Missy Liu, Crystal Lo, and Kristen

Mead. You guys are awesome!

1

Chapter 1

Review of the Literature

It is usually held that one does not see the physical world at all, but only a nonphysical copy of it called experience. When the physical organism is in contact with reality, the experienced copy is called a sensation, sense datum, or percept; when there is no contact, it is called an image, thought, or idea. (Skinner, 1953, p. 276)

William James is generally acknowledged as the first person to term stream of conscious

in his work The Principles of Psychology (1890). Consistent with his pragmatic philosophy, he

maintained that experience gives rise to inner sensation, only as reflection becomes developed

do we become aware of an inner world at all(James, 1890, p. 679). Skinner furthers this

distinction in his discussion of private events, where through operant or respondent conditioning

the process of abstraction gives rise to conditioned seeing and hearing whereby, A man may see

or hear stimuli which are not present (Skinner, 1953, p 266). Radical behaviorists and

cognitive-linguistic theorists have approached the role of language in the formation of relations

or ideas differently, and this is the focus of the following three experiments. Therefore, I shall

begin with a brief review of the related literature from both a behavioral selection and cognitive-

linguistic perspective. Due to the specialized lexicon of behavior analysis, a definition of terms

has been provided in the appendix.

Abstraction

Definitions of abstraction vary across the research in behavior anal