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| Joint Control: Analysis, Applications and Implications |
| Monday, May 30, 2005 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Stevens 3 (Lower Level) |
| Area: VBC; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Joyce C. Tu (Center for Behavioral Science) |
| Discussant: David C. Palmer (Smith College) |
| Abstract: There are three data-based studies presented in this symposium. In the first study, joint control training was applied when teaching selection responses to four non-vocal children with autism. In the second study, joint control training was applied when teaching five adult females to acquire a generalized sequencing behavior using an unfamiliar language. In the third study, the role of modeling and automatic reinforcement was explicated when teaching passive voice to six typically developed children. All three studies attempted to explore the role of joint control in the acquisition of complex human behavior. |
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| The Role of Joint Control in the Manded Selection Responses of Non-vocal Children with Autism. |
| JOYCE C. TU (Center for Behavioral Science) |
| Abstract: In the present study, joint control training was applied when teaching selection responses to four non-vocal children with autism. This study is a systematic replication of Tu (2001). The children were two males (ages six and seven), and two females (ages twelve and thirteen). The result showed that it was only after the joint tact/self-mimetic/sequelic control training that the symmetrical performance of manded selection responses appeared with no additional training. |
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| The Role of Rehearsal in Joint Control |
| RICK GUTIERREZ (Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc.) |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis is missing a behavioral account of complex human behavior. Behavior analysis have offered accounts of the behavior involved in matching to sample tasks and delayed matching to sample tasks. Joint control was used as a behavioral account of generalization matching to sample behavior. The present study used joint control to train five adult females to acquire a generalized sequencing behavior using an unfamiliar language. The results showed that after joint control training the participants were able to produce untrained picture sequences. Further analysis revealed that response blocking the mediating response of the participants during the sequencing task directly correlated with the reduction of accurate sequences produced. This study provides additional support for response mediation as a precurrent behavior to complex human behavior. |
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| The Role of Modeling and Automatic Reinforcement in the Construction of the Passive Voice |
| ANHVINH PHUNG (Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc.) |
| Abstract: Language acquisition has been a contentious topic among linguists, psycholinguists, and behaviorists for decades. Although numerous theories on language acquisition have surfaced, non have sufficiently accounted for the subtleties of language that children acquire. The present study attempts to explicate the role of modeling and automatic reinforcement in the acquisition of the passive voice. Six children, ages three to five, participated in this study. The results indicate that the children began using the passive voice only after the experimenter modeled passive sentences. Furthermore, the usage of the passive voice increased with repeated exposure to training and novel stimuli. Given that the children were not explicitly reinforced, it is proposed that their behavior was automatically reinforced for using the passive voice. |
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