Project 3 will continue the investigations of variables affecting the development of stimulus control by elements of complex stimuli. The project will contribute to our overall program by developing generally effective procedures for broadening stimulus control in our study population of individuals with severe to moderate developmental disabilities. Proposed Studies 1 and 2 will examine stimulus and reinforcement variables that may affect restricted stimulus control. The experiments will examine (a) whether programmatic methods that are effective with less-complex discriminations can be extended to broaden stimulus control in more-complex discriminations; (b) the effects of intrinsic stimulus salience; (c) the reinforcement variables of predictiveness, correlation, and frequency; and (c) the extent to which stimulus control is exerted by the component attributes vs. configural properties of stimuli; and (d) interactions of stimulus control by components and compounds in stimuli consisting of multiple, discrete elements. Proposed Studies 3-5 will bring together recent technological and methodological advances to obtain extensive and detailed quantification of the individuals's observation of complex stimuli. The experiments will: (a) extend our current methodology to make explicit and record the sequence of externally measurable events that occurs in the observation of single- and multielement stimuli (recording technology appropriate for our study population has recently become available); (b) establish a database describing effective observing in individuals who exhibit accurate discrimination of multiple-element stimuli; (c) determine how effective observing changes as stimulus complexity increases; (d) compare observing in subjects who exhibit broad and restricted stimulus control by multiple-element stimuli; and (e) investigate methods to broaden stimulus control by modifying observing in individuals who exhibit restricted control.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
1996
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
McIlvane, William J; Kledaras, Joanne B; Gerard, Christophe J et al. (2018) Algorithmic analysis of relational learning processes in instructional technology: Some implications for basic, translational, and applied research. Behav Processes 152:18-25
Dube, William V; Farber, Rachel S; Mueller, Marlana R et al. (2016) Stimulus Overselectivity in Autism, Down Syndrome, and Typical Development. Am J Intellect Dev Disabil 121:219-35
McIlvane, W J; Gerard, C J; Kledaras, J B et al. (2016) Teaching Stimulus-Stimulus Relations to Minimally Verbal Individuals: Reflections on Technology and Future Directions. Eur J Behav Anal 17:49-68
Wilkinson, Krista M; O'Neill, Tara; McIlvane, William J (2014) Eye-tracking measures reveal how changes in the design of aided AAC displays influence the efficiency of locating symbols by school-age children without disabilities. J Speech Lang Hear Res 57:455-66
Dube, William V; Wilkinson, Krista M (2014) The potential influence of stimulus overselectivity in AAC: information from eye tracking and behavioral studies of attention with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Augment Altern Commun 30:172-85
Wilkinson, Krista M; Mitchell, Teresa (2014) Eye tracking research to answer questions about augmentative and alternative communication assessment and intervention. Augment Altern Commun 30:106-19
Morro, Greg; Mackay, Harry A; Carlin, Michael T (2014) Rapid Teaching of Arbitrary Matching in Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. Psychol Rec 64:731-742
Grisante, Priscila C; Galesi, Fernanda L; Sabino, NathalĂ­ M et al. (2013) Go/No-Go Procedure with Compound Stimuli: Effects of Training Structure On the Emergence of Equivalence Classes. Psychol Rec 63:63
Wilkinson, Krista M; McIlvane, William J (2013) Perceptual factors influence visual search for meaningful symbols in individuals with intellectual disabilities and Down syndrome or autism spectrum disorders. Am J Intellect Dev Disabil 118:353-64
McIlvane, William J; Kledaras, Joanne B (2012) Some Things We Learned from Sidman and Some We Did Not (We Think). Eur J Behav Anal 13:97-109

Showing the most recent 10 out of 32 publications