Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Conditional Discrimination Procedures: Understanding to Application Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Jonathan K. Fernand, M.A., BCBA University of Florida B.E.S.T. Consulting, Inc., Sacramento, CA

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Overview Stimulus Control Discrimination & Generalization – Simple Discrimination – Conditional Discrimination Guidelines for Teaching – Recommendations – Potential Problems Additional Considerations

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Stimulus Control A response is under stimulus control (the stimulus controls the response) when the response reliably occurs in one stimulus condition (S D ) and not in another (S  )

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Stimulus Control S D : An instruction/stimulus becomes a discriminative stimulus after a history of learning in which the instruction is differentially correlated with the availability of reinforcement. For this to occur, there must be an S  condition. S  : An instruction/stimulus becomes an S-Delta after a history of learning in which the instruction is differentially correlated with the NON-availability of reinforcement. For this to occur, there must also be an S D condition.

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Discrimination “…any difference in responding in the presence of different stimuli; in a more restricted usage, a difference resulting from differential consequences of responding in the presence of different stimuli…” (Catania, 1992)

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Discrimination Respond differently to different stimuli.

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Generalization “…relevant behavior under different, nontraining conditions (i.e., across subjects, settings, people, behaviors, and/or time) without the use of scheduling of the same events in those conditions as had been scheduled in the training conditions.” (Stokes & Baer, 1977)

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Generalization Respond similarly to different stimuli.

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Puppy!

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Puppy!

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Difficult to identify specific stimulus properties (or combinations of properties) that acquire control over responding E.g., – Four legs? – Fur? – Tail? – Color? – Body size? – Face length?

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Different degrees of variation within and across classes of stimuli Low variation within classes Low variation between classes – subgroups within a larger category High variation within and between classes – many different subgroups of exemplars

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Discrimination Responding differentially to events or groups of events because of individual learning history Virtually all skills require discrimination Discriminations vary in complexity and the types of events involved - Simple discrimination - Conditional discrimination

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Simple Discrimination Simple discrimination contingencies involve 3 components: 1) Stimulus 2) Response 3) Consequence

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a OR… Instruction R SR+/P+ (Discriminative Stimulus) (Response) (Reinforcing/Punishing Stimulus)

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a S1 R1 R2 S R+ “green” “red” S R+ S2 R1 R2 S R+ “green” “red” S R+

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Simultaneous Simple Discrimination What is it?

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Successive Simple Discrimination What is it?

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Examples of Simple Discriminations Tacts Following instructions Motor imitation Vocal imitation Simple intraverbals

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a

Conditional Discrimination Conditional discriminations are one of the most commonly target skills in early and intensive behavioral intervention Established by reinforcing responses to particular antecedent stimuli if and only if they are preceded or accompanied by particular additional stimuli

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Conditional Discrimination Conditional discrimination contingencies involve 4 components: 1) Sample Stimulus 2) Comparison Stimuli 3) Response 4) Consequence

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a OR… Instruction R SR+/P+ (Conditional Stimulus) + S +

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Conditional Discrimination “red” pointing S R+ pointing S R+ “green” “blue”

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Examples Matching Selecting objects (e.g., pictures, words, items) from an array PECS Complex Intraverbals

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Delayed Matching-to-Sample (DMTS)

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a FOOD!! SAMPLE STIMULUS DELAY COMPARISON STIMULI CONSEQUENCE

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Guidelines for Teaching Conditional Discrimination Samples differ but comparisons stay the same Preferable to have at least three comparisons on every trial Each sample should be presented equally as often Position of the S+ should vary Required observing response Ensure auditory samples are heard Rearrange comparisons out of sight Teach how to respond in a MTS arrangement prior to teaching in that format Errorless teaching methods should be used

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a

0/1 JF 7/24/13 P+ 100% Samples differ and presented equally as often Comparisons stay the same, at least 3 comparisons S+ rotates in each position equally as often

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Guidelines for Teaching Samples differ but comparisons stay the same Preferable to have at least three comparisons on every trial Each sample should be presented equally as often Position of the S+ should vary Required observing response Ensure auditory samples are heard Rearrange comparisons out of sight Teach how to respond in a MTS arrangement prior to teaching in that format Errorless teaching methods should be used

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a What Could Happen? Samples differ but comparisons stay the same Preferable to have at least three comparisons on every trial Each sample should be presented equally as often Position of the S+ should vary Required observing response Ensure auditory samples are heard Rearrange comparisons out of sight Teach how to respond in a MTS arrangement prior to teaching in that format Errorless teaching methods should be used If comparisons differ, such as the case when using novel “distracters”, learners may respond to or away from these stimuli Learners may not attend to the sample stimulus Not having 3 comparisons will inflate the likelihood that chance responding is occurring as well as decreases the need to discriminate between comparisons If the sample stays the same, the learner may not be required to attend to the sample and may be reinforcing a simple discrimination rather than a conditional discrimination If position of the S+ does not vary, individuals may develop a position bias due to increased density of reinforcement for a particular position Helps to ensure the learner is “ready” and attending to the sample instead of making trial and error guesses or becoming prompt dependent Can ensure this by having the learner repeat the auditory sample prior to allowing selection of the comparison, making it a requirement that the learner attend to the sample Teacher behavior may then control learner responses through inadvertent stimulus control if done in front of the learner Several skills are required to be successful in a MTS arrangement. It is likely that the learner will make errors if they do not have those skills Errors can foster more errors as well as create conditions in which problem behavior is more likely

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Considerations Readiness skills Attending/Observing Scanning Simple discrimination

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Additional Considerations… No/limited progress on a set 2 weeks following introduction of a set (e.g., no independent responses) Moving back and forth between the same two prompt delays for a particular set (e.g., moving between zero and one second delay repeatedly) Error patterns (e.g., consistent errors with 1 target, side bias, etc.)

Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Literature Green, G. (2001). Behavior analytic instruction for learners with autism: Advances in stimulus control technology. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disorders, 16, Grow, L. L., Carr, J. E., Kodak, T. M., Jostad, C. M., & Kisamore, A. N. (2011). A comparison of methods for teaching receptive labeling to children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44, Saunders, R. R., & Green, G. (1999). A discrimination analysis of training-structure effects on stimulus equivalence outcomes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 72, Saunders, K., & Spradlin, J. (1989). Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: The effect of training the components simple discrimination. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 52, Saunders, K., & Spradlin, J. (1990). Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: The development of generalized skills. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 54,