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This study investigated the effect of matching-to-sample and mimetic-relations teaching on the emergence of signed tact and textual repertoire through a multiple-baseline design, across three groups of three words in children with and without hearing impairments and with no reading repertoire. Following mimetic-relations teaching and the establishment of nine three-member stimulus classes containing signs, pictures, and printed words via matching-to-sample procedure, including the mimetic relation as the differential observing response, tact (signing in the presence of a picture) and textual (signing in the presence of a printed word) emergent repertoires were tested. Results showed the emergence of signed tact and textual responses. The mimetic relation brought in under the contextual control of a matching-to-sample task may have allowed participants to simultaneously learn speaker and listener relations to the particular signs used. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This study extended previous research on the effect of education and communication on anti-autism bias and stigmatization, using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) as an assessment tool and employing undergraduates as participants. Experiment 1 examined the effect of a simple video and text-based educational intervention on attitudes towards autism, as assessed both using the IRAP and various explicit measures. Participants received either an educational video–text combination or a control video–text combination before exposure to the assessments. Findings showed positive responding towards both normally developing and autism spectrum individuals across both conditions on both the IRAP and the explicit measures. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of two different types of online video-based narrative regarding autism, one negatively oriented and the other positively oriented, on both implicit and explicit responding. Findings suggested that the negative video affected both implicit and explicit responding, albeit in different ways. Responding on the IRAP showed a stronger pro-normally developing bias whereas explicit responding showed a stronger anti-autism bias. Implications and possible future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key aspect of self-forgiveness is that one needs to acknowledge one's failings and their consequences. The present study used the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and an explicit IRAP analog measure to examine (1) responding to perceived failure following exposure to an insoluble task, and (2) the effect of a defusion intervention on responding in this context. Participants (n = 29) were first assessed for baseline performance on an IRAP and IRAP analog that assessed participants in terms of perceived relations between performance (success vs. failure) and feelings (positive vs. negative). They were then exposed to the insoluble task, after which they were asked to report on their performance and their feelings in relation to the task. They were subsequently assigned to hear either a defusion (n = 14) or control (n = 15) audio recording and were reexposed to the implicit and explicit measures. IRAP results showed significant denial of failure as leading to positive feelings for both groups following the insoluble task, whereas the explicit (IRAP analog) measure failed to show any comparable effect of this task. As regards the defusion intervention, no effect was seen at the implicit level whereas effects at the explicit level were ambiguous. Results and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equivalence formation, expansion, and reversal were investigated as a result of arbitrary matching associated with specific reinforcers. Four 4- and 5-year-old normal children were taught identity matching with stimuli, A, B, C, and D, and stimulus-specific reinforcement. Then the children were taught two conditional discriminations AB and BC. All subjects showed formation of the ABC stimulus classes; one subject, however, did not show expansion to ABCD classes. This subject was taught to name the D stimuli, he then demonstrated the expanded class. Next, 2 subjects who showed expanded classes were taught identity matching with the reinforcers reversed for the D stimuli. In tests that followed, their matching responses remained consistent with the original equivalence classes. These subjects were then taught to reverse the names for the D stimuli. As a result, the children reversed the classes. The results suggest that class expansion and subsequent reformation of classes may be facilitated when stimulus within each class controls a common naming response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]