Ep. 38- ABA in One Take- Advanced verbal behavior; Naming and stimulus equivalence

Stimulus equivalence theory is one of those things that behavior analysts either love or hate. In fact, one of my favorite behavior analysts that I have met had the stimulus equivalence paradigm tattooed on their arm. Personally, I love it, because I think it gives us as behavior analysts the answer to the question of generative language development. Is it the whole answer? Probably not, but it is at least a start. In this article, the continue the exploration of stimulus equivalence by comparing the acquisition of match to sample tasks when common and individual naming is taught. Naming is when a stimulus is given a “name” such as naming a pencil “pencil”. The reason this concept is important is because there is some evidence to support that an individual must be able to name a stimulus before acquiring symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity. This article explores all of these topics, with some great practical steps for the behavior analyst at the end! I hope you enjoy.

Granerud, G., & Arntzen, E. (2021). Naming of stimuli in equivalence class formation in children. Analysis Verbal Behavior, 37(1), 77–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-021-00143-8