The usefulness of applying Skinner’s taxonomy of verbal behavior to observational learning1

Abstract

Study duration: Before starting the baseline, a pre-assessment was conducted to determine unknown pictures to be used for the teaching sessions. An observational learning (OL) assessment was also conducted as a baseline probe. Each probe comprised 10 trials (5 reinforced and 5 non-reinforced trials). A total of four stimuli sets were probed, with one probe per picture stimuli set. Training consisted of two parts: i) teaching the rule-correspondence, and ii) teaching overt echoic, tacting the model’s response, and correct statements. Each session consisted of four to eight trials per trial type and condition. Across baseline, intervention, and generalization phases, a total of 51 sessions were conducted.