Advisor(s)

D. Daniel Gould

Contributor(s)

Paula Braga-Kenyon, Paulo Guilhardi

Date of Award

2011

Date Accepted

4-2011

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

M.S.

Degree Name

Master of Applied Behavior Analysis

Department or Academic Unit

Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology.

Keywords

psychology, behavioral, audience control, bilingualism, stimulus equivalence, verbal behavior

Subject Categories

Bilingualism - Psychological aspects, Verbal behavior, Second language acquisition

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | First and Second Language Acquisition | Psychology

Abstract

The phenomenon of audience control (Skinner, 1957) can be interpreted as a form of second-order conditional control, in which the audience functions as the second-order conditional stimulus. Such an interpretation allows for a detailed, systematic analysis of the stimulus relations involved in language repertoire selection (as with bilingualism). Furthermore, the use of equivalence technology to teach equivalent audience class membership may provide an efficient methodology for maximizing the potential of teaching the complex stimulus-stimulus relations involved in bilingualism. Despite this, relatively little research has been conducted which investigates this potential. The purpose of the current study was three-fold: (a) to extend the literature on second-order conditional control via audience class membership, (b) to examine whether equivalence technology could be utilized to teach functional equivalence class membership using arbitrary auditory and visual stimuli, and (c) to determine whether emergent class-consistent responding would occur.

Four typically-developing adult participants were taught to relate a series of visual-visual and auditory-visual stimuli, and later demonstrated emergent equivalence of two three-member classes that included one common member per class. Participants also demonstrated the emergence of a 5-member stimulus class, that is, the two three-member classes with a common member had merged into a single five-member class. In addition, responding was brought under the control of a second-order conditional stimulus for all participants. Finally, all participants successfully generalized the second-order conditional control to a novel audience class member. These findings support previous research by demonstrating that match-to-sample procedures can be utilized to effectively teach equivalence relations among arbitrary stimuli to typically-developing adults. The study extends the literature by demonstrating that these performances can be brought under second-order conditional control, and that this contextual control can be generalized to a novel class member.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights Holder

Tiffany Dubuc