The Analysis of Verbal Behavior 2013, 29, 125–135

An Analysis of Verbal Stimulus Control in Intraverbal

Behavior: Implications for Practice and Applied Research

Svein Eikeseth, Oslo and Akershus University College

Dean P. Smith, UK Young Autism Project and Oslo and Akershus
University College

A common characteristic of the language deficits experienced by children with autism (and other
developmental disorders) is their failure to acquire a complex intraverbal repertoire. The difficulties with
learning intraverbal behaviors may, in part, be related to the fact that the stimulus control for such
behaviors usually involves highly complex verbal stimuli. The antecedent verbal control of intraverbal
behavior may involve discriminative stimuli (i.e., discriminated operants), conditional stimulus control,
and/or control by compound stimuli. Distinctions among these different types of antecedent control are
presented, along with recommendations for intervention procedures that may facilitate the acquisition of
intraverbal behavior.
Key words: intraverbal behavior, stimulus control, verbal behavior, conditional discriminations,
compound stimuli

Intraverbal behavior occurs when verbal Bailey, 1993; Pérez-González, Garcıa-Asenjo,

stimuli evoke a verbal response that is Williams, & Carnerero, 2007; Petursdottir,
different from the antecedent stimulus, in Carr, Lechago, & Almason, 2008; Petursdottir
that there is no point-to-point correspondence & Haflidadottir, 2009; Shillingsburg, Kelley,
between the two (Michael, Palmer, & Sund- Roane, Kisamore, & Brown, 2009). Sundberg
berg, 2011; Skinner, 1957). An example of and Sundberg (2011) suggested that a com-
an intraverbal response is answering a mon characteristic of the language deficit
question such as ‘‘What’s your name?’’ In exhibited by children with autism and other
this instance, the response (the name) has no developmental disorders is their failure to
point-to-point correspondence to the ante- acquire a complex intraverbal repertoire.
cedent stimulus (‘‘What’s your name?’’). According to Sundberg and Sundberg, such
In recent years, several authors have children may learn a number of mand, tact,
studied intraverbal behavior in the context and listener skills and some simple intraverbal
of education (e.g., Goldsmith, LeBlanc, & responses, but fail to acquire more complex
Sautter, 2007; Ingvarsson, Cammilleri, & intraverbal relations. These difficulties with
Macias, 2012; Ingvarsson & Hollobaugh, learning may be related to the fact that the
2010; Ingvarsson & Le, 2011; Ingvarsson, primary antecedent variable for most intra-
Tiger, Hanley, & Stephenson, 2007; Miguel, verbal behavior involves complex verbal
Petursdottir, & Carr, 2005; Partington & stimulus control (Axe, 2008; Sundberg &
Sundberg, 2011).
The purpose of this paper is to provide an
We thank Mark Sundberg for helpful comments analysis of the type of antecedent control
on an earlier version of this paper. Portions of this
paper were presented at the 38th Annual Conven- involved in intraverbal behaviors typically
tion for the Association for Behavior Analysis taught to individuals with developmental
International, Seattle, WA, May 2012. disabilities (including autism) and language
Svein Eikeseth, Department of Behavioral delays. Previous attempts have focused
Science, Oslo and Akershus University College.
Dean Smith, UK Young Autism Project, and the primarily on one type of complex antecedent
Department of Behavioral Science, Oslo and control, namely conditional discriminations
Akershus University College. (Axe, 2008; Sundberg & Sundberg, 2011). In
Correspondence concerning this article may be this paper we discuss three types of stimulus
addressed to: Svein Eikeseth, Oslo and Akershus
University College, P.O. Box 4, St. Olavs plass, N- control relevant for the acquisition of in-
0130 Oslo, Norway. (e-mail: svein.eikeseth@hioa. traverbal behaviors. They are discriminated
no). operants, compound verbal stimuli, and
125
126 SVEIN EIKESETH and DEAN P. SMITH

conditional discriminations. In the final part tion, whether a particular stimulus functions
of this paper, we discuss implications for as an SD or SD (SD is a stimulus that precedes
interventions and applied research. a response, but does not correlate with
reinforcement) depends on another stimulus,
DISCRIMINATED OPERANTS the conditional stimulus (Catania, 2007). For
example, when the conditional stimulus A1 is
A discriminated operant occurs when a presented, the antecedent stimulus for the
response-consequence relation comes under three-term unit, for example B1, takes on the
the control of a third element called the function of an SD (or S+) and stimulus B2
discriminative stimulus (SD). The SD is the takes on the function of an SD (or S2).
stimulus that precedes a particular response Conversely, when A2 is presented as the
and correlates with reinforcement. For ex- conditional stimulus, stimulus B2 takes on
ample, a discriminated operant exists if a the function of an SD (or S+) and stimulus B1
learner emits the verbal response ‘‘book’’ in takes on the function of an SD (or S2).
the presence of the object book (the object Hence, in conditional discriminations, the
book is the SD for saying ‘‘book’’). The verbal conditional stimulus determines the function
operant, ‘‘book’’ is a tact if it is evoked in the of the antecedent stimulus in a discriminated
presence of a nonverbal stimulus (i.e., the operant (Sidman, 2000).
object book) and maintained by generalized Conditional discriminations can also in-
conditioned reinforcement. Hence, a discrim- volve verbal stimuli. That is, one verbal
inated operant involves a three-term unit conditional stimulus can establish another
consisting of the SD-R-SR (Sidman, 2000). verbal stimulus as a SD or SD. Catania (2007)
Examples of intraverbal behavior evoked gives an example involving the autoclitic
by discriminative stimuli are simple fill-in- relations, ‘‘I doubt the coffee is ready’’ and
the-blank phrases, such as; ‘‘ready-set …,’’ ‘‘I’m sure the coffee is ready.’’ Catania
‘‘peek-a …,’’ ‘‘A, B …,’’ ‘‘1, 2 …,’’ ‘‘big argues that the verbal stimuli, ‘‘I doubt’’ and
…,’’ etc. In this example ‘‘ready-set’’ is the ‘‘I’m sure’’ differentially alter the evocative
SD and ‘‘go’’ is the intraverbal response. effect of the subsequent verbal stimuli (i.e.,
Skinner (1957) suggested that multiple ‘‘the coffee is ready’’), where ‘‘I doubt’’ and
‘‘words’’ do not necessarily equate to ‘‘I’m sure’’ are analogous to the conditional
multiple stimuli, and that multiple words stimuli of a conditional discrimination
can function as a single unit. Hence, the two (p. 258). Skinner (1957) uses an example of
words; ‘‘ready-set’’ may function as a single the conditional mand, ‘‘If your name is
antecedent unit in a three-term contingency. Charlie, stand up!’’ to make a similar
As the intraverbal responses become more argument. Here, the verbal stimulus ‘‘If your
complex, responding to several verbal dis- name is Charlie’’ differentially alters the
criminative stimuli might be required, as evocative effect of the subsequent verbal
when the verbal SD ‘‘small animal’’ is stimulus (i.e., ‘‘stand up’’). The former
followed by the verbal response (‘‘mouse’’). stimulus is analogous to the conditional
In this case, the two verbal antecedent stimuli stimulus, whereas the latter stimulus is the
(‘‘small’’ and ‘‘animal’’) together evoke the antecedent stimulus for a particular response.
specific response (‘‘mouse’’). This has been In intraverbal behavior, a conditional
referred to as convergent multiple control discrimination exists when some verbal
(Michael et al., 2011). Two types are stimuli determine the function of other verbal
particularly relevant: conditional discrimina- stimuli. An example is when a speaker
tions and compound stimuli. responds appropriately to the verbal anteced-
ent: ‘‘If your name is Charlie, say your
CONDITIONAL DISCRIMINATIONS ABCs!’’ The speaker will say his ABCs only
if his name is Charlie. In other words, the
Conditional discriminations involve a verbal conditional stimuli ‘‘If your name is
four-term unit (Sidman, 2000). This is Charlie’’ determine the function of the verbal
because the discriminated operant (i.e., the stimuli: ‘‘Say your ABCs.’’ This is because
three-term unit) comes under contextual ‘‘say your ABCs’’ is an SD for saying the
control. Hence, in a conditional discrimina- ABCs if the person’s name is Charlie and an
 ANTECEDENT CONTROL IN INTRAVERBAL BEHAVIOR 127

SD for saying the ABCs if the person’s name together evoke a particular response corre-
is not Charlie. Hence, it may be a conditional lating with reinforcement. Two or more
discrimination. To assess whether this in- stimuli refers to stimuli that are in some
traverbal response indeed has been estab- way topographically distinct, and two or
lished as a conditional discrimination, the more stimulus elements means components
learner must respond by saying his ABCs on of a stimulus that could include abstract
trials when hearing his name, and refrain qualities (e.g., shape and color).
from doing so on trials when hearing other Typically, to establish a compound dis-
names, when these two type of trials are crimination, stimulus control by two stimuli
presented in a random order. If the learner (e.g., a light and a tone) is trained separately.
says his/her ABCs on every trial (no matter A stable and moderate rate of a responding
which name is heard), the intraverbal re- (e.g., lever pressing) on a variable interval
sponse has likely been established as a rote schedule is established, first in the presence of
response as part of a three-term contingency. a tone and then in the presence of a light. After
In conditional discriminations, the stimuli stimulus control by the light and the tone has
controlling the verbal behavior are often both been established separately, a stimulus com-
verbal and nonverbal. In these instances, the pounding trial can be administered in which
speaker’s response is typically part intraver- the tone and light are presented together.
bal and part tact. For example, the speaker Under this stimulus compounding condition,
may observe a particular car (e.g., a black response rates exceed those exhibited during
Ford Mondeo). In this case, the question the no-compound conditions (Cohn & Weiss,
‘‘What color?’’ will evoke the response, 2007). Hence, in a compound discrimination,
‘‘black’’ and the question, ‘‘What make?’’ the response to the compound stimuli is
will evoke the response ‘‘Ford.’’ Here, the different from the response evoked by each
question and the object form a conditional SD in isolation.
discrimination: the question, ‘‘What color?’’ In conditional discriminations, by contrast,
is a verbal conditional stimulus establishing the response is evoked by a particular SD (not
the color of the car as an SD (or S+) and the by the joint effect of two or more SDs) and
make and the model as SDs (or S2). the SD is established by the conditional
Conversely, the question, ‘‘What make?’’ is stimulus.
a verbal conditional stimulus establishing the An example of a discriminated operant
make of the car as an SD (or S+) and other involving a compound SD is when the listener
properties such as color, year, and model as responds by clapping quickly, clapping
SDs (or S2). A defining feature of conditional slowly, walking quickly, or walking slowly
discriminations is that the same stimulus (or in response to the instructions; ‘‘Clap fast,’’
stimulus property) serves as a SD on some ‘‘Clap slow,’’ ‘‘Walk fast,’’ and ‘‘Walk
occasions and a SD in others. slow,’’ respectively. This is provided that
Other examples of intraverbal and tact these instructions are presented in a random
responses involving a conditional discrimi- order, and that responding is correct. Correct
nation are if-then questions, such as: ‘‘If you responding requires the listener to discrimi-
are wearing blue, say your name.’’ nate both elements of the stimulus compound
(i.e., clap or walk, and fast or slow). The
COMPOUND STIMULI reason why this is not a conditional discrim-
ination is that one stimulus (i.e., clap or
Compound stimuli can occur in discrimi- walk) does not determine the function of the
nated operants as well as in conditional other stimulus (i.e., fast or slow). To produce
discriminations (Cohn & Weiss, 2007; a correct response, the listener’s behavior
Pérez-González & Alonso-Álvarez, 2008; must come under the control of both SDs. In
Wolf, 1963). A compound stimulus in a other words, the stimulus clap is an SD for
discriminated operant exists when a particu- clapping no matter if the other stimulus fast
lar response is controlled by two or more or slow is presented.
stimuli, or two or more elements of a Compound stimulus control in a condi-
stimulus. That is, the SD involves several tional discrimination occurs either when the
elements, or there are several SDs, that conditional stimulus contains two or more
128 SVEIN EIKESETH and DEAN P. SMITH

stimuli (or or two or more stimulus elements) trial, followed by a Q2 training trial,
and/or when the SD contains two or more followed by a Q1 training trial, followed by
stimuli (or two or more elements). Several a PA training trial, etc.).
studies have examined outcomes when com- Teaching complex manded stimulus se-
pound stimuli have been used in conditional lection (Michael, 1985) (i.e., complex re-
discriminations (e.g., Augustson, Dougher, & ceptive labels) is an example of an educa-
Markham, 2000; Pérez-González & Alonso- tional program that involves conditional
Álvarez, 2008; Smeets, Schenk, & Barnes, discriminations with compound stimuli.
1994; Stromer & Mackay, 1990; Stromer & Consider an example where the child selects
Stromer, 1990a, 1990b). Consider the study the blue ball from an array containing a blue
by Alonso-Álvarez and Pérez-González ball, a yellow ball, a blue car, and a yellow
(2006), who taught two P–A and P–B car, when presented with the verbal com-
conditional discriminations (see Figure 1). pound sample stimulus ‘‘Touch blue ball.’’
Participants were undergraduate college stu- Here, correct responding requires the child
dents. These were analogous to teaching that to respond to both elements of the com-
‘‘Cervantes’’ and ‘‘Balzac’’ were writers, pound sample stimulus (object and color).
and that ‘‘Goya’’ and ‘‘Gauguin’’ were Initially, the two elements of the compound
painters. P1 (writer) or P2 (painter) were stimulus have typically been trained sepa-
sample stimuli; A1 (Cervantes) and A2 rately. First, correct responding to the object
(Goya) or B1 (Balzac) and B2 (Gauguin) (car and ball) has been established by
were comparison stimuli. Next, two more teaching the learner to select the comparison
conditional discriminations were taught, with stimulus ball from an array containing a ball
the Q–1 and Q–2 discriminations intended to and a car, when presented with the verbal
be analogous to teaching that ‘‘Cervantes’’ sample stimulus ‘‘Ball’’ (the object car has
and ‘‘Goya’’ were Spanish and that ‘‘Bal- been taught in the same way). Second,
zac’’ and ‘‘Gauguin’’ were French. Q1 correct responding to yellow and blue has
(Spanish) was presented as the sample been established by teaching the learner to
stimulus, A1 and B1 (Cervantes and Balzac) select the blue comparison stimulus from an
were presented as comparison stimuli. When array containing a blue and a yellow object
Q2 (French) was presented as a sample when presented with the verbal sample
stimulus, A2 and B2 (Goya and Gauguin) stimulus, ‘‘Blue,’’ and select the yellow
were presented as comparison stimuli. This comparison stimulus from an array contain-
established the following eight relations: P1– ing a blue and a yellow object when
A1, P1–B1, P2–A2, P2–B2, Q1–A1, Q1–A2, presented with the verbal sample stimulus
Q2–B1, and Q2–B2. Upon mastery of these ‘‘Yellow.’’
relations, PQ probe trials were introduced, There are many examples of compound
intended to be analogous to the intraverbals stimulus control in intraverbal behavior.
‘‘Name a Spanish writer,’’ ‘‘Name a Spanish Stimulus control by compound stimuli in an
painter,’’ ‘‘Name a French painter,’’ and intraverbal relation occurs when two or more
‘‘Name a French writer.’’ During these probe verbal stimuli (e.g., ‘‘Big’’ and ‘‘Animal’’)
trials, compound sample stimuli were formed come together to evoke a particular response
with combinations of the P and Q stimuli, (e.g., ‘‘Elephant’’). Another example is when
whereas A1, A2, B1, and B2 were compar- the compound SD ‘‘Red fruit’’ is followed by
ison stimuli on all trials. The comparison the response ‘‘Tomato.’’ Also, responding to
stimulus defined as correct was the one that the question, ‘‘What do you eat that’s red?’’
had been previously related to both elements involves compound stimuli because a correct
of the compound sample. Thus, in the response requires that the speaker’s behavior
presence of compound P1 and Q1 (writer comes under the control of several verbal
and Spanish), the correct comparison was A1 stimuli, most notably, ‘‘eat’’ and ‘‘red.’’ The
(Cervantes). Results showed that the com- same is the case for the question, ‘‘Name a
pound probes were mastered by both partic- big animal.’’
ipants, but only after the four conditional To determine empirically the extent to
discriminations had been intermixed during which responding is controlled by the
training (such as, for example, a PB training stimulus compound (rather than being
 ANTECEDENT CONTROL IN INTRAVERBAL BEHAVIOR 129

Figure 1. The P–A, P–B, Q–1 and Q–2 conditional discriminations taught (solid lines) were analogous to
teaching that ‘‘Cervantes’’ and ‘‘Balzac’’ were writers and that ‘‘Goya’’ and ‘‘Gauguin’’ were painters,
and that ‘‘Cervantes’’ and ‘‘Goya’’ were Spanish and that ‘‘Balzac’’ and ‘‘Gauguin’’ were French. PQ
probes (dashed lines) were analogous to assessing the intraverbals ‘‘Name a Spanish writer,’’ ‘‘Name a
Spanish painter,’’ ‘‘Name a French painter,’’ and, ‘‘Name a French writer.’’ (Adapted from Pérez-
González and Alonso-Álvarez [2008] with permission).

‘‘rote’’ responses), the speaker must respond respond appropriately to novel combinations
correctly to a number of intraverbals when the of stimuli in the compound.
questions are presented in a random order. For The reason why intraverbal responses such
example, to determine whether the verbal as ‘‘What do you eat that’s red?’’ are not
operant ‘‘Elephant’’ has been established as conditional discriminations is that the different
an intraverbal behavior controlled by com- words involved in the stimulus complex do not
pound stimuli, the child must respond cor- determine the function of the other, as required
rectly not only to the question, ‘‘Name a big in the definition of a conditional discrimina-
animal,’’ but also to the questions ‘‘Name a tion. That is, the first verbal stimulus ‘‘Eat’’
small animal,’’ ‘‘Name a big vehicle,’’ and does not determine the function of the second
‘‘Name a small vehicle,’’ when such trials are verbal stimulus ‘‘Red,’’ and vice versa.
presented in a random order. The most Rather, correct responding requires the child’s
convincing evidence is when the speaker can response to come under control of both
130 SVEIN EIKESETH and DEAN P. SMITH

elements of the compound stimulus (e.g., eat in the usual word-association experi-
and red).1 According to this analysis, respond- ment may yield green, blue, color, or
any one of many other responses, for
ing to the question, ‘‘What do you eat that is there are many different circumstances
red?’’ is a discriminated verbal operant (i.e., a under which it appears as part of the
three-term contingency), where the intraverbal occasion for the reinforcement of such
response is evoked by a compound verbal responses. Similarly, the stimulus word
stimulus complex. white will yield black, snow, and so on.
But in an American verbal community,
Other examples of complex intraverbal in the absence of other specific deter-
operants evoked by compound SDs are: miners, the compound verbal stimulus
‘‘What grows on your head?’’ ‘‘When do red, white… will yield blue in prefer-
we set the table?’’ ‘‘What day is it today?’’ ence to any other. The compound
stimulus is a much more specific
and ‘‘What is your last name?’’ Examples of occasion than either part taken separate-
even more advanced intraverbal operants ly, and it is an occasion upon which the
evoked by verbal compound SDs are re- response blue is characteristically made
sponding to the questions: ‘‘Describe Ein- and reinforced.… The more complex the
stein’s Law of relativity’’ or ‘‘Sing the first stimulus pattern, the more specific the
verbal occasion, and the stronger the
phrase of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C control exerted over a single response.
minor, Op. 67.’’ In the latter two examples, (pp. 75–76)
perhaps the largest challenge is establishing
the response rather than bringing it under the In this description of the intraverbal, Skinner
desirable stimulus control, but a further (1957) clearly defines complex verbal ante-
discussion of this issue is beyond the scope cedent stimuli as compound stimuli. In
of the present paper. Skinner’s example above, each speaker has
Some intraverbal responses may involve a history of reinforcement for responding to
conditional discriminations where both the the word red with a variety of different
conditional stimulus and the discriminative words, and the same is true for the word
stimulus contain compound stimuli. An white. Combining (compounding) the words
example is, ‘‘if-then’’ and ‘‘when’’ intraver- into the antecedent, ‘‘Red, white …’’ simply
bals. Responding correctly to the verbal provides the speaker with a more specific
stimuli, ‘‘If you are wearing blue, say your context in which to respond and therefore
name’’ is an example where the conditional results (in an American verbal community) in
stimulus (i.e., If you are wearing blue) the one response that has previously been
contains four elements (if, you, wearing, reinforced (blue). This point is made in other
blue), and the discriminative stimulus con- writings, too, such as in Skinner’s (1953)
tains three elements (say your name). description of memorizing multiplication
tables and where ‘‘the stimulus ‘9 3 9’ is
SKINNER’S ANALYSIS the occasion upon which the response ‘81’ is
appropriately reinforced’’ (p. 109). The
Skinner himself (1957) focuses on com- speaker’s history of reinforcement for re-
pound stimulus control when describing sponding to the verbal stimulus ‘‘nine’’ and
stimulus control of intraverbal responses. In the verbal stimulus ‘‘times’’ is almost
Verbal Behavior, Skinner discussed complex irrelevant when considering the much more
vocal antecedent stimuli in relation to the specific occasion of presenting the com-
intraverbal in the following way: pound stimulus ‘‘nine times nine.’’ The
compounding of the individual words results
The nature of the stimulus control in in a new (single) stimulus and therefore a
intraverbal behavior is shown by re-
sponses to verbal stimuli containing new occasion for reinforcement.
more than one word. The stimulus red Skinner’s account of stimulus control of
intraverbal behavior should be seen in a
1
To be more precise, the sentence: ‘‘What do historical context, however. One of the
you eat that’s red?’’ has a third and fourth reasons for this is that most of the experi-
element, namely the words ‘‘what’’ and ‘‘you.’’
Consequently, the compound stimulus in this mental literature on stimulus control, such as
sentence consists of the following four elements: that on conditional discriminations, emerged
What, You, Eat, and Red. after Skinner published Verbal Behavior. Yet
 ANTECEDENT CONTROL IN INTRAVERBAL BEHAVIOR 131

it is interesting to note that Skinner’s account response topography is unique to the partic-
is in many ways consistent with that of the ular SD given (the listener claps when asked
current paper. to clap and jumps when asked to jump). In
addition to teaching the learner to respond to
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE simple verbal stimuli when they are present-
ed alone, responding to more than one verbal
Discriminating verbal stimuli of different stimulus must be acquired. In other words,
complexities is a prerequisite for learning the listener must learn to respond to verbal
complex intraverbal behavior. This is the stimuli presented as a sentence. This can be
focus of the current paper. In addition, achieved by teaching the learner to respond
however, learning complex intraverbal be- to instructions containing two actions such as
havior involves complex verbal topogra- ‘‘Clap hands and wave.’’ Prior to this, two-
phies, such as saying, ‘‘The capital of step nonvocal imitation (i.e., the teacher
Norway is Oslo’’ in response to the question, claps and then waves, and the learner
‘‘What is the capital of Norway?’’ (or in the imitates by first clapping and then waving)
example mentioned above, describing Ein- is usually taught.
stein’s law of relativity or singing Beetho- The example of ‘‘Clap hands and wave’’
ven’s Symphony No. 5). Consequently, involves two discriminated operants, where
intraverbal behavior involves both the dis- both SDs are presented before any of the two
crimination of complex verbal stimuli and responses are emitted. The reason why this is
the production of complex verbal responses. not a compound stimulus is that the two SDs
Both likely contribute to the difficulty many control different responses (the SD ‘‘clap
learners have in acquiring complex intraver- hands’’ evokes clapping whereas the SD
bal behavior. ‘‘wave’’ evokes waving).
To simplify the learning of intraverbal Conditional discriminations. Listener be-
behavior it might be an advantage to teach the havior involving conditional discriminations
discrimination of complex antecedent verbal has been described as manded stimulus
stimuli and the production of complex verbal selection (Michael, 1985) and as receptive
topographies separately. Teaching the dis- labels (Lovaas, 2003). Typically, and for
crimination of complex verbal stimuli may several reasons, receptive labels are more
start even if the learner has a limited or no difficult to learn as compared to learning to
vocal repertoire. This is because the discrim- clap and wave in response to hearing the
ination of verbal stimuli can be taught as a instruction ‘‘clap’’ and ‘‘wave’’ (Eikeseth,
listener behavior. Listener behavior involves Smith, & Klintwall, in press). The most basic
responding to antecedent verbal stimuli typi- form of receptive labels is when the learner
cally by either touching or pointing to object/ identifies a particular object in response to
picture stimuli or by performing simple hearing its name. More advanced receptive
actions, which are nonvocal, nonverbal re- labeling involves verbs, colors, functions,
sponses. Obviously, the nonverbal listener opposites, gender, categories, prepositions,
response of say, pointing is less complex than pronouns, etc. These programs teach the
a vocal verbal response, such as answering learner to discriminate a number of complex
questions. Thus, working with listener skills verbal conditional stimuli that are required in
might be an effective approach to teaching the order to learn complex intraverbals.
learner to discriminate complex verbal stim- The receptive labeling programs just
uli. Using such nonverbal responses, discrim- described teach the learner to respond to
ination of increasingly more complex verbal complex stimuli, but not to respond to
stimuli can be programmed. In what follows, several verbal stimuli when presented in a
we outline a curriculum sequence of teaching sentence. After learning to respond to two
discrimination of increasingly complex verbal actions (e.g., clap and wave, as described
stimuli. above) the learner can be taught to respond to
Discriminated operants. A basic form of instructions that contain two objects, such as
listener behavior is to respond to simple ‘‘Give me car and book.’’ In this case, there
instructions, such as ‘‘clap hands’’ and must be more than two stimuli available for
‘‘jump.’’ In this example, the listener’s the learner to select from. Subsequently, the
132 SVEIN EIKESETH and DEAN P. SMITH

child can be required to select three objects, sometimes responding requires the discrim-
such as ‘‘Give me car, house, and book’’ (in ination of one property (i.e., color) whereas
this case there must be more than three at other times the learner must discriminate
stimuli available for the learner to choose another property (object name).
from). By doing this, the learner not only Another program to teach the same skill is
learns to discriminate several verbal stimuli to teach identification of parts of an object.
when presented in a sentence, but he or she For example, using a car, the learner may be
also learns to respond to them in the correct asked to point to the bumper, the light, the
syntactic sequence (first car, next house, and door, the steering wheel, etc.
then book). Responding to verbal stimuli in When identification of multiple properties
the correct sequence is required to establish an of objects has been taught, the learner can be
intact listener repertoire and subsequently to taught to respond to compound stimuli by
learn intraverbals and other verbal behavior. requiring a response to two properties simul-
An example of a more complex program is taneously (e.g., ‘‘Give me yellow car’’).
to ask for objects, verbs, colors, and func- After mastery of this step, more advanced
tions, such as when asking the learner to, compound stimulus discriminations may be
‘‘Give me running, cup, and what you eat taught as listener behavior, such as respond-
with.’’ Here the learner selects the picture of ing to general knowledge questions (e.g.,
someone running, the picture of a cup, and ‘‘What grows that is green?’’), and respond-
the picture of a spoon. Prior to this, the ing to different Wh-Questions (e.g. ‘‘Where
learner must have learned the objects, colors, do you eat lunch?’’ versus ‘‘What do you eat
and functions separately. for lunch?’’). Here the response would be to
Compound stimuli. An important step is point to pictures of restaurants, food, etc.
to teach the learner to select items that Interestingly, the programs suggested here
require him or her to discriminate two stimuli are similar to those often used in early and
(or stimulus elements), such as selecting the intensive behavioral intervention curricula
red car based on the instruction; ‘‘Give me (e.g., Lovaas, 2003; Maurice, Green, & Luce,
the red car.’’ This is a conditional discrim- 1996). However, these manuals offer no
ination involving a compound conditional specific rationale for the curriculum struc-
stimulus (‘‘Give me the red car’’). This is ture, which is what we have attempted in the
because the learner selects one object in current paper.
response to a compound consisting of two Speaker behavior. Concurrently with
elements (color and object). teaching listener skills, complex verbal
Because a large part of the repertoire of the responses may be established while keeping
listener involves conditional discriminations, the antecedent stimuli as simple as possible.
discrimination of compound stimuli is intro- This can be done by using vocal imitation to
duced gradually in conditional discrimina- teach echoic behavior (Skinner, 1957). Echo-
tions, as follows: ic verbal operants may subsequently be
Initially, use stimulus properties that are as brought into other verbal operant classes by
simple as possible for the learner, such as changing the stimulus control of the verbal
color and object name. Each object is used to operants, such as when learning tacts and
teach both color discrimination and object intraverbal behavior, or by manipulating
discrimination. That is, if there is a yellow establishing operations and reinforcement
car and a blue ball on the table, the learner is, contingencies to establish mands.
for example, asked to select blue, and the
correct response is to select the blue ball. IMPLICATIONS FOR
Next, the learner might be asked to select the APPLIED RESEARCH
ball, and again, the correct response is to
select the blue ball. On subsequent trials, the The programs outlined above are logically
learner might be asked to select the car and, and conceptually parsimonious, but as far as
later, yellow, and in both instances the we know, no empirical research exists to
correct response is to select the yellow car. support the notion that teaching listener skills
By doing this, the learner learns that the same as described above facilities learning of
object may have more than one property, and complex intraverbal behavior (cf., Petursdot-
 ANTECEDENT CONTROL IN INTRAVERBAL BEHAVIOR 133

tir & Carr, 2011). Hence, future studies could 2003) as compared to, for example, using
experimentally examine whether teaching matrix training (e.g., Axe & Sainato, 2010),
relevant listener responses facilitates acqui- or teaching using random rotation without
sition of intraverbal responses. For example, initial mass trials (Green, 2001; Grow, Carr,
imagine we are going to teach intraverbal Kodak, Jostad, & Kisamore, 2011; Gutierrez
responses answering ‘‘What do you eat that Jr., Hale, O’Brien, Fischer, Durocher, &
is green?’’ ‘‘What do you eat that is red?’’ Alessandri, 2009).
‘‘What do you eat that is yellow?’’ and so Pérez-González and Alonso-Álvarez (2008)
forth. The experimental intervention may be found that repeated practice of individual
to first establish the corresponding listener intraverbal responses, in addition to the
behavior by teaching the learner to select employment of systematic and programmed
broccoli, a tomato, and a banana in response steps to teach the learner to discriminate
to these questions. After the learner has between intraverbal responses, may be re-
acquired such a listener repertoire, probe quired in teaching complex intraverbals. This
trials could be run to assess whether the study was conducted with typically developing
corresponding intraverbal behavior emerges. adults, and could be replicated and extended
Comparison of responding during probe trials using learners with developmental delays.
that are conducted as baseline, before the
listener behavior is taught, and following CONCLUSIONS
listener training would reveal the potential
impact of teaching listener behavior on In this paper we have argued that the
corresponding intraverbal behavior. More- difficulties with learning intraverbal behav-
over, assessment can be carried out to iors experienced by many individuals with
examine the extent to which the intervention language delays may in part be related to
results in generalization to novel intraverbal the fact that the stimulus control for such
behavior (i.e., intraverbal responses that have behaviors is highly complex, involving
not been trained), thereby establishing in- verbal stimuli. Antecedent control of intra-
traverbal frames rather than single instances verbal behavior may involve discriminative
of intraverbal responses (Palmer, 1998). stimulus control, conditional discriminations,
Important prerequisite speaker skills may compound stimuli, and a combination of
include an echoic repertoire, a repertoire of those. Programs focusing on listener skills to
‘‘simple’’ intraverbals (such as fill-in-the- establish complex stimulus control are out-
blank questions and answering simple ques- lined in the present paper. Future research
tions such as what is your name), and tacting could examine whether teaching of advanced
of the pictures involved in the training. listener behavior facilitates the acquisition of
If it turns out that teaching a listener intraverbal behavior.
repertoire facilitates the acquisition of in-
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