The research will pursue two fundamental issues of longstanding scientific interest: (1) Can true symbolic relations be demonstrated in individuals who are not considered to function symbolically? (2) If so, does that potential depend on development of some degree of language? This project will focus on two populations, school-aged children with severe mental retardation and little or no language and capuchin monkeys. We will test the hypothesis that both populations have the potential to function symbolically. For our purposes, symbolic potential will be defined as positive outcomes on tests for stimulus equivalence. We will also examine the possibility that probable precursors of symbolic functioning (e.g., exclusion and contingency classes) will be demonstrable also. Our hypothesis is that past failures to demonstrate these behavioral capacities in the various populations have been due to methodological insufficiency: insufficient specification of stimuli controlling the participants behavior, insufficient preparation for critical tests, and insufficient control of motivational variables. Using methods from recent research on stimulus control, we seek to: (1) demonstrate the behavioral prerequisites for stimulus equivalence, exclusion, and contingency classes in both populations; (2) test a novel account of processes involved in decontextualization, another index of symbolic potential, based on the interaction of two types of equivalence classes; and (3) develop a useful animal model for studying symbolic processes in the laboratory (e.g., to assist in the long-term search to understand the neurological foundation of these processes). Our studies are expected to have direct implications for both theory and practice. A competent demonstration of symbolic functioning in presymbolic populations would necessarily lead to modifications in theories that relate such functioning to language development. Perhaps more importantly, our methods are likely to prove useful in the design of teaching interventions for individuals who do not yet exhibit conventional symbolic functioning.
| Lionello-Denolf, Karen M; Braga-Kenyon, Paula (2013) Membership of Defined Responses in Stimulus Classes. Psychol Rec 63:769-784 |
| de Alcântara Gil, Maria Stella C; de Oliveira, Thais Porlan; McIlvane, William J (2011) Conditional Discriminations by Preverbal Children in an Identity Matching-to-Sample Task. Psychol Rec 61:327-340 |
| Brino, Ana Leda F; Barros, Romariz S; Galvao, Olavo F et al. (2011) Sample stimulus control shaping and restricted stimulus control in capuchin monkeys: a methodological note. J Exp Anal Behav 95:387-98 |
| Lionello-DeNolf, Karen M (2009) The search for symmetry: 25 years in review. Learn Behav 37:188-203 |
| Hübner, Maria Martha Costa; Gomes, Renata Cristina; McIlvane, William J (2009) RECOMBINATIVE GENERALIZATION IN MINIMAL VERBAL UNIT-BASED READING INSTRUCTION FOR PRE-READING CHILDREN. Exp Anal Hum Behav Bull 27:11-17 |
| Wilkinson, Krista M; Rosenquist, Celia; McIlvane, William J (2009) EXCLUSION LEARNING AND EMERGENT SYMBOLIC CATEGORY FORMATION IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES. Psychol Rec 59:187 |
| Lionello-Denolf, Karen M; Barros, Romariz da Silva; McIlvane, William J (2008) A NOVEL METHOD FOR TEACHING THE FIRST INSTANCES OF SIMPLE DISCRIMINATION TO NONVERBAL CHILDREN WITH AUTISM IN A LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT. Psychol Rec 58:229-244 |
| Lionello-Denolf, Karen M; McIlvane, William J; Canovas, Daniela S et al. (2008) REVERSAL LEARNING SET AND FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCE IN CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT AUTISM. Psychol Rec 58:15-36 |
| Almeida-Verdu, Ana Claudia; Huziwara, Edson M; de Souza, Deisy G et al. (2008) Relational learning in children with deafness and cochlear implants. J Exp Anal Behav 89:407-24 |
| Debert, Paula; Matos, Maria Amelia; McIlvane, William (2007) Conditional relations with compound abstract stimuli using a go/no-go procedure. J Exp Anal Behav 87:89-96 |
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