The current article outlines a behavior-analytic approach to the study of so

Developmental psychologists have been interested in the cognitive ability of perspective-taking for a number of years due to the apparent link between perspective-taking deficits and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Most of the research in this area has employed the concepts and techniques of the approach commonly referred to as ''Theory of Mind." The current paper is concerned with an alternative operant account of perspective-taking based on a modern behavioral approach to human language and cognition called Relational Frame Theory. According to this approach, the relational frames of I-YOU, HERE-THERE, and NOW-THEN are central to the development of complex perspective-taking. The present paper reports 3 studies that investigate the development of perspectivetaking in terms of these 3 relational frames. In Study 1, 5 age groups of participants ranging from early childhood to adulthood were exposed to a protocol assessing their abilities to respond to relational perspective-taking tasks. A developmental profile was then constructed from the relative performances of the different age groups on this protocol. The findings from Study 1 overall indicated that accuracy increased as a function of age. Studies 2 and 3 were subsequently conducted as controls. Specifically, Study 2 was employed to determine whether the low rates of accuracy recorded with the youngest group of partiCipants in Study 1 was simply a function of the length of the statements contained within some of the tasks. The results from Study 2 suggested that this was not the case. In Study 3 an automated version of the protocol was employed to determine whether the high rates of accuracy recorded with the adult participants in Study 1 was a function of cueing. The results from this study similarly indicated that this was not the case. Overall, the findings from the 3 studies lend support to the Relational Frame approach to the development of perspective-taking as generalized operant behavior.Correspondence should be addressed to Louise McHu9h, Department of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Maynooth , Maynooth , Co. Kildare, Ireland. (E-mail : louise.mchugh@may.ie).We express our gratitude to Bill Dube and an anonymous reviewer for their encouraging and constructive comments on a revision of the manuscript.

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The current article suggests a possible synthesis of Skinner's (1957) treatment of verbal behavior with the more recent behavioral interpretation of language known as relational frame theory. The rationale for attempting to combine these two approaches is first outlined. Subsequently, each of the verbal operants described by Skinner is examined and subjected to a relational frame analysis. In each case, two types of operants are identified; one based on direct contingencies of reinforcement and the other based on arbitrarily applicable relational responding. The latter operants are labeled verbal because they can be distinguished from other forms of social behavior, and they appear to possess the symbolic or referential qualities often ascribed to human language. By applying relational frame theory to Skinner's verbal operants, we aim to contribute towards the development of a modern behavior-analytic research agenda in human language and cognition.

Derived equivalence relations, it has been argued, provide a behavioral model of semantic or symbolic meaning in natural language, and thus equivalence relations should possess properties that are typically associated with semantic relations. The present study sought to test this basic postulate using semantic priming. Across three experiments, participants were trained and tested in two 4-member equivalence relations using word-like nonsense words. Participants also were exposed to a single-or two-word lexical decision task, and both direct (Experiment 1) and mediated (Experiments 2 and 3) priming effects for reaction times and event-related potentials were observed within but not across equivalence relations. The findings support the argument that derived equivalence relations provides a useful preliminary model of semantic relations.