Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Conditional Discrimination Procedures: Understanding to Application Conferina

Conferința Națională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediția a III-a

Conditional Discrimination Procedures: Understanding to

Application


Jonathan K. Fernand, M.A., BCBA

University of FloridaB.E.S.T. Consulting, Inc., Sacramento, CA


Overview

• Stimulus Control• Discrimination & Generalization

– Simple Discrimination– Conditional Discrimination

• Guidelines for Teaching– Recommendations– Potential Problems

• Additional Considerations


Stimulus Control

• A response is under stimulus control (the stimulus controls the response) when the response reliably occurs in one stimulus condition (SD) and not in another (S)


Stimulus Control

• SD: 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 SD condition.


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)


Discrimination

• Respond differently to different stimuli.


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)


Generalization

• Respond similarly to different stimuli.


Puppy!


Puppy!


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?


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


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


Simple Discrimination

Simple discrimination contingencies involve 3 components:

1) Stimulus2) Response3) Consequence


OR…

Instruction R SR+/P+ (Discriminative Stimulus) (Response) (Reinforcing/Punishing Stimulus)


S1 R1R2

SR+

SR+

“green”“red”

SR+

SR+

S2 R1R2

SR+

SR+

“green”“red”

SR+

SR+


Simultaneous Simple Discrimination

What is it?


Successive Simple Discrimination

What is it?


Examples of Simple Discriminations

• Tacts• Following instructions• Motor imitation• Vocal imitation• Simple intraverbals



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



Conditional discrimination contingencies involve 4 components:

1) Sample Stimulus2) Comparison Stimuli3) Response4) Consequence


OR…

Instruction R SR+/P+ (Conditional Stimulus) + S+



“red”

pointing

pointing

SR+

SR+

pointing SR+

“green”“blue”


Examples

• Matching• Selecting objects (e.g., pictures, words, items)

from an array• PECS• Complex Intraverbals


Delayed Matching-to-Sample (DMTS)


FOOD!!

SAMPLE STIMULUS

DELAY

COMPARISON STIMULI

CONSEQUENCE


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



0/1

JF

7/24/13

P+

P+

P+

P+

P+

P+

P+

P+

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


Guidelines for Teaching




What Could Happen?



• 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


Considerations

• Readiness skills• Attending/Observing• Scanning• Simple discrimination


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.)


Literature• Green, G. (2001). Behavior analytic instruction for learners with autism: Advances

in stimulus control technology. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disorders, 16, 72-85.

• 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, 475-498.

• 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, 117-137.

• 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, 1-12.

• Saunders, K., & Spradlin, J. (1990). Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: The development of generalized skills. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 54, 239-250.

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Conferina Naională de Analiză Aplicată a Comportamentului (ABA), Ediia a III-a Conditional Discrimination Procedures: Understanding to Application Conferina