Two kinds of verbal behavior plus a possible third.
Receptive-language drills alone may not create speakers; add topography-based lessons so learners actually emit words.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Pear (1985) wrote a theory paper, not an experiment.
He split verbal behavior into two kinds.
Topography-based means the learner produces a form—say, signs a word.
Selection-based means the learner picks from items—say, touches a picture.
He warned that most language lessons rely too much on selection drills.
Kids may pass receptive tests yet never become true speakers.
What they found
The paper argues the two kinds of verbal behavior are functionally different.
Selection practice alone may not build speaker behavior.
The author hints a third kind might exist, but leaves it open.
How this fits with other research
Shafer (1993) extends the same split to AAC choices.
The review says topography systems can be easier to teach than selection boards.
Freeman et al. (2015) move the idea into practice.
They use PEAK lessons to teach Skinner operants, mixing both topographies.
Rudy Zaltzman et al. (2022) show one child with autism who, after vocal topography training, learned new tacts just by watching.
Together these papers build a line: theory → AAC advice → curriculum → case demo.
Fryling (2017) updates the wider verbal-operant debate, noting mixed evidence and urging finer measurement.
Why it matters
If you run receptive drills all day, check what the learner can actually say, sign, or type.
Add topography trials—echoics, intraverbals, independent typing—to make speaker behavior emerge.
Balance selection tasks with production tasks in every session.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Speaking, writing, and signing (American Sign Language) are types of verbal behavior where each different verbal relation involves a different topography. It is also possible to behave verbally by pointing at or in some way indicating the relevant verbal stimuli, where response topographies do not differ from one verbal relation to another. There are a number of potentially important differences between topography-based and stimulus-selection-based verbal behavior, although the two are often treated as equivalent from a behavioral as well as from a traditional perspective. Selection-based verbal behavior involves a conditional discrimination whereas topography-based verbal behavior does not. In topography-based, but not in selection-based verbal behavior, there is point-to-point correspondence between response form and relevant response product. Also, effective selection-based verbal behavior requires a good scanning repertoire whereas in topography-based verbal behavior the correct response simply becomes stronger under appropriate conditions. What is traditionally referred to as receptive language training is described as quite similar from a behavioral perspective to training in selection-based verbal behavior. Given the differences between topography- and selection-based verbal behavior, the wisdom of the current rather extensive reliance on selection-based verbal behavior in language instruction for developmentally disabled clients is seriously questioned.
The Analysis of verbal behavior, 1985 · doi:10.1007/BF03392802