The purpose of this three-experiment study was to evaluate whether performance consistent with the formation of equivalence classes could be established after training adults to tact and intraverbally relate the names of visual stimuli. Fourteen participants were exposed to tact training, listener testing, and intraverbal training (A'B' and B'C') prior to matching-to-sample (MTS) and intraverbal posttests presented in different sequences across experiments. All participants demonstrated emergent MTS and intraverbal relations consistent with equivalence class formation. More importantly, all participants emitted experimentally defined or self-generated tacts or intraverbally named the correct sample-comparison pairs at some point during posttests. These results are consistent with the intraverbal naming account (Horne & Lowe, 1996) in that participants who passed novel relations MTS tests also demonstrated emergence of corresponding intraverbal relations. However, verbal reports and latency data suggest that participants did not necessarily have to use intraverbal naming as a problem solving strategy continuously throughout MTS posttests. These results extended previous research by showing that verbal behavior training of baseline relations (A'B' and B'C') is sufficient to establish novel conditional relations consistent with equivalence class formation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of tact and intraverbal training on the establishment of generalized equivalence classes. Seventeen college students were exposed to tact training, listener testing, and intraverbal training (A'B' and B'C') in two experiments. Visual-visual matching-to-sample and intraverbal tests measured performances consistent with the formation of equivalence classes. Generalization was assessed with four novel sets of stimuli. In the second experiment, matching-to-sample tests for baseline relations (AB, BC) were eliminated to control for the possibility that equivalence classes were developed through exposure to these visual stimulus-stimulus relations. Thirteen of 17 participants passed all matching-to-sample and intraverbal posttests. Results suggest that when trained and emergent intraverbal relations were not maintained or were faulty, participants did not respond correctly during matching-to-sample posttests.

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The impact of Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957) on behavior analytic research, although not immediate, has steadily increased. Empirical investigations of verbal operants initially focused on mands and tacts, yet other operants such as intraverbals, echoics, and autoclitics have started to receive more attention. Aguirre et al. (2016) reviewed intraverbal research between 2005 and 2015. The results showed an increase in intraverbal research, with studies mostly focused on direct intraverbal training and emergent behavior. The authors noted the substantial increase in intraverbal studies assessing emergence, suggesting a subsequent brief review would be beneficial. The purpose of the current review was to replicate and extend Aguirre et al. In addition to analyzing publication trends and research emphasis, we also identified and quantified the skill sets of participants, the method and components of training, and additional procedural details. The findings show a continued increase in intraverbal research, with empirical evidence supporting prerequisite skills.

Being familiar with world religions and their diverse practices is referred to as religious literacy. The present study compared the effects of stimulus equivalence-based instruction (EBI) and video lecture (VL) to increase religious literacy in middle-school students; 10 participants were assigned to either the EBI or the VL group. Participants in the EBI group were taught five 6member equivalence classes using match-to-sample (MTS) software on a computer. Within each class of (1) Judaism, (2) Islam, (3) Christianity, (4) Hinduism, and (5) Buddhism, the visual stimulus members were (A) name of the religion, (B) major religious symbol, (C) sacred text, (D) notable religious figure, (E) name of religious service leader, and (F) notable celebrated holiday. The VL participants were given an opportunity to complete a fill-in written worksheet while viewing a video lecture about the 5 religions using the same stimuli as the EBI group. Participant responding in each group was compared across worksheet, oral, and MTS pretests and posttests. The results showed that 5 of 5 participants in the EBI group formed equivalence classes but only 1of 5 did so in the VL group. Class-consistent responding generalized to oral vignettes to a greater degree for the EBI participants than for the VL participants. In addition, at an approximately 2-week follow-up, EBI participants maintained class-consistent responding to a greater degree than VL participants did. Duration measures showed that even though EBI was more effective, EBI training did require more time than the VL did. Although not explicitly programmed for, social distance survey scores showed that participants improved equally in their ratings of the acceptability of people from other faiths following training, regardless of training type. Thus, EBI may be an effective method to teach schoolchildren about religious literacy.