Association for Behavior Analysis International

Presenting Author: Tom Cariveau, Ph.D.

At ABAI's 20th Annual Autism Conference in January 2026, Dr. Tom Cariveau presented Learner-Centered Approaches to Skill Acquisition: Stimulus Control, Applied Practice, and the Golden Goose. Decades of research from basic and applied laboratories suggest that certain procedural arrangements or types of stimuli can produce responding under unintended sources of stimulus control. The behavior analyst’s detection of the incongruence between what is learned and what was intended to be learned often requires direct testing of what could be learned. It is paramount, then, that the behavior analyst “make sure that pupils see what they see” (Sidman, 2011, p. 986), which might be more effectively arranged by attempting to see (or even catch a glimpse) from our learners’ view. Fortunately, the tactics that define the behavior analytic approach, characteristic of both applied practice and basic research, provide a framework for this type of analysis for each learner. This presentation will describe the approach taken by our lab to improve our inferences of our learner’s view (i.e., propensity for certain stimulus control topographies) and to arrange interventions to ensure coherence of what is taught and what is learned.

Instruction Level: Intermediate

Target Audience:

This session is designed for behavior analysts, researchers, and practitioners who are engaged in skill acquisition programming and are interested in refining their understanding of stimulus control processes. It will be particularly valuable for professionals who design, implement, or evaluate instructional strategies and want to ensure that learning outcomes align with instructional goals. Graduate students, supervisors, and educators seeking to strengthen their ability to detect and address unintended sources of stimulus control in applied settings will also benefit. Attendees should have a foundational knowledge of behavior analytic concepts and a desire to deepen their application to learner-centered approaches.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Attendees will be able to describe methods to test for restricted sources of stimulus control.
2. Attendees will be able to define differential observing responses and provide examples of their use in applied practice.
3. Attendees will be able to define the “rookie stimulus control error” and provide potential examples of this error in the published literature.