Evaluating skills correlated with discriminated responding in multiple schedule arrangements
Color selection and tact skills predict who will succeed with color-based multiple schedules.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Pizarro et al. (2021) asked a simple question. Do you need to know colors before you can follow color-based multiple schedules?
They tested color selection and color tacting first. Then they ran standard multiple schedules with color signals. Participants who passed the color tests learned the schedule rules quickly.
What they found
People who could pick the right color and name it learned when to respond and when not to. Their responding matched the schedule colors.
People who failed the color tests did not show clear discriminated responding. The color skills acted like a gate.
How this fits with other research
Campos et al. (2023) moved the same idea into FCT. They used color cues to signal when mands would be reinforced. Three of four kids with autism learned equally well with static or animated colors, showing the gate can open for this population.
Järvinen-Pasley et al. (2008) seems to disagree. They found autistic children scored lower than peers on color memory and search tasks. The difference is likely the sample. Anna’s group may have had more cognitive delays. Pizarro’s entry test would simply screen those kids out before the schedule phase.
Frampton et al. (2019) give us a tool. They taught color-shape tacts to autistic children with matrix training. If a child fails Pizarro’s color gate, you can run matrix drills first, then return to the multiple schedule.
Why it matters
Before you place a child in color-based FCT thinning, spend five minutes on a simple color selection and tact probe. If the child can’t pass, teach the color skills first or switch to a different signal like position or shape. This quick screen saves weeks of stalled treatment and frustrated staff.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
One potential solution for excessively high-rate functional communication responses (FCR) is to establish stimulus control of the FCR through a multiple schedule. However, several studies have demonstrated difficulty with establishing discriminated responding across multiple schedule components. The primary aim of the current study was to evaluate how participants' skills related to color discrimination may be related to the emergence of discriminated responding in a multiple schedule with colors as the schedule-correlated stimuli. Three secondary aims of the current study were to evaluate: a) varied multiple schedule arrangements, b) if topographically dissimilar stimuli facilitated the emergence of discriminated responding, and c) if employing different colored stimuli across multiple schedule arrangements reduced the likelihood that discriminated responding emerged simultaneously across varied arrangements. Nine participants' ability to match, select, tact, and respond intraverbally to colors was assessed, and 1 of 2 evaluations of multiple schedule arrangements were conducted. Results indicated that participants' ability to select and tact colors was strongly correlated with the efficacy of standard multiple schedule arrangements. Additionally, multiple schedule arrangements employing topographically dissimilar stimuli were observed to be equally as effective as standard arrangements and the inclusion of different colored stimuli across arrangements did not reduce the likelihood that discriminated responding emerged simultaneously across all conditions, when it was observed to emerge at all.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.759