Abstract
From an operant perspective, verbal behavior is multiply controlled by different sources of stimulation, including self-stimulation. Self-stimulation (i.e., responding with respect to one’s own response products) is thought to be especially important for verbal mediation that temporally extends discriminative stimulus control. While previous research has examined the effects of self-stimulation across multiple dimensions of verbal responding, stimulus control of patterns of self-stimulation in conjunction with other patterns of discriminative stimuli of different modalities have arguably received less attention. The purpose of this study was to examine relations between patterns of self-stimulation and different types of verbal discriminative stimulation (i.e., visual and auditory) through differences in their contribution to verbal response accuracy in a recall task. Using a novel online task, participants completed a series of trials in which they (1) typed a 7-digit sequence of digits presented to them either visually or auditorily in which response products were (a) unmasked (typing different keys produced different characters) or (b) masked (typing different keys produced the same character) in the initial response phase, (2) engaged in an intervening activity in the distractor phase, and (3) retyped the same sequence of digits during the recall phase that was initially presented during the initial response phase. While no significant differences in accuracy of digits submitted during recall phases were observed with respect to visual and auditory verbal discriminative stimuli, the average total number of correct digits typed during recall phases was found to be higher when response products were unmasked in the initial response phase than when they were masked.
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Notes
Although some might disagree (Stewart et al., 2013; Sundberg et al., 2018), even relating is often described as operant activity that mediates subsequent activity by transforming the functional properties of stimuli in accordance with a historically established relational network. Hayes et al. (2001) contend that, “relating one event to another and combining relations among events are flexible behaviors under specific environmental control” (p. 42). Barnes-Holmes et al. (2020) adhere to a similar conceptualization by stating that relating can increase the probability of subsequent orienting and evoking. Likewise, self-generating rules can be considered reinforced relational activity that serves to maximize reinforcement by altering the probability of other operant activity (Bern et al., 2020).
It should be noted that terms other than “control” are often used in contemporary molar (and interbehavioral) frameworks. In molar frameworks, patterns of behavioral and environmental events are often viewed as interdependent; neither pattern controls the other, at least not without adherence to both controlling one another because both patterns are dependent on one another (c.f., Baum, 2020). In interbehavioral frameworks, bidirectional, functional relations obviate discussing behavior in terms of control and comparable constructs (c.f., Kantor, 1977).
The term “subtle” is used in this paper to denote difficulty discerning some forms of activity of a whole organism without delimiting it as private or covert activity of part of a whole organism. Parrott (1984) uses this term for a similar reason, and Hayes and Fryling (2009) discuss this issue at length.
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Acknowledgements
This manuscript is based on and extends thesis research conducted in partial fulfillment of the first author’s master’s degree requirements. The authors would like to thank Bethany Contreras, MaryAnne Demchak, Michael Gomez, Caitlin Vaca, and Melanie Stites for their help on this project.
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Thomas, J., Fleming, W. & Hayes, L.J. Relations between Verbal Self-Stimulation, Stimulus Modality, and Accuracy in an Operant Task. Analysis Verbal Behav (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-024-00201-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-024-00201-x