Selection-Based Instruction and the Emergence of Topography-Based Responses to Interview Questions

Abstract

The process of teaching job interview skills to adults with intellectual disability can be time consuming and arduous for vocational developmental centers. On review of the existing literature, Schloss et al. (1988) recognized that although the social validity of interview skills has been well documented, few studies have attempted to validate effective strategies for teaching such behaviors. Behavioral skills training (BST) has been shown to be effective (Hall et al. 1980;Kelly et al. 1980;Schloss et al. 1988) but requires repeated instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. One strategy that might attenuate this issue has been subject to conceptual analysis in recent years. That is the potential of selection-based responding to promote the emergence of topography-based responding.Michael (1985) identified two types of verbal behavior: selection-based and topography-based. The former requires an effective scanning repertoire, a subsequent conditional discrimination between stimuli, and no pointto-point correspondence between the response form and the response product (e.g., choosing the correct answer during a multiple-choice examination). In comparison, the latter involves an increase in the strength of a distinguishable topography given some specific controlling variable and point-to-point correspondence between the response form and the response product (e.g., providing the correct answer during an oral examination). Since Michael's seminal paper on the topic, researchers have continued to clarify the distinction between selectionbased and topography-based verbal behavior. Potter and Brown (1997) have suggested that topography-based responses might promote the acquisition of selectionbased responses in some contexts, especially in participants with extensive verbal repertoires. In examining the role of such verbal behavior, found that participants preferred selection-based tasks which incorporated a topography-based component when taught relations between sample stimuli consisting of flag-like patterns and comparison stimuli consisting of dot patterns. These researchers found that participants engaged in consistent vocal-verbal responding (i.e., problem-solving) during both selection-based tasks and selection-based tasks with a topography-based component. This finding was seen as support for the notion that some selection-based conditional discriminations, and emergent equivalence relations (see Walker et al. 2010;Lovett et al. 2011;Walker and Rehfeldt 2012), are promoted by topography-based vocal-verbal responding in individuals with extensive verbal repertoires. Indeed, it is likely that typically functioning adults engage in covert topography-based responses during selection-based tasks (e.g., multiple-choice examinations). Polson and Parsons (2000) commented on the concerns associated with ignoring the selection-based versus topography-based distinction and cautioned researchers on the use of selectionbased match-to-sample (MTS) tasks. The current study sought to validate the use of a selection-base...

Computerized behavioral skills training with selection-based instruction and lag reinforcement schedules for responses to interview questions.

“…The authors concluded that SB instruction for responses to interview questions should include a TB component and that lag reinforcement schedules can be useful in promoting variable responding during SB instruction. Similar to the findings of O’Neill and Rehfeldt (2014), each target question came to evoke multiple accurate responses that were promoted by Lags 1–2 reinforcement schedules.…”

“…O’Neill and Rehfeldt (2014) suggested that 1 hr of exposure to SB instruction was sufficient to promote varied TB responses in two individuals with a learning disability. A Lag 1 reinforcement schedule was incorporated in order to promote variable SB responses to each of three typical interview questions.…”

“…In a replication and extension of the O’Neill and Rehfeldt (2014) experiment, O’Neill and Rehfeldt (in press) evaluated the emergence of exact (i.e., taught), recombinative (i.e., combinations of taught), and novel (i.e., untaught) TB responses to interview questions after approximately 1 hr of SB instruction. At posttest, an increase in the number of recombinative accurate responses was observed for both participants, and an increase in exact accurate responses was observed for one participant.…”

Learning Skinner’s Verbal Operants: Comparing an Online Stimulus Equivalence Procedure to an Assigned Reading

“…The dashed line represents the mastery criterion stressing as a great many higher educational classrooms incorporate SB (i.e., multiple choice) examinations, the results of which may not generalize to relevant response topographies. Future investigations might evaluate a technique employed by O'Neill and Rehfeldt (2014) and examined by O'Neill et al (2015) wherein a TB component is included in the procedure by asking participants to read responses aloud during SB instruction.…”

Empirical Investigations of the Intraverbal: 2005–2015

“…Finally, multiple studies have demonstrated success with lag schedules of reinforcement on emergent intraverbal responding with children and adults with developmental disabilities (Contreras & Betz, 2016;Lee & Sturmey, 2014;O'Neill, Blowers, & Rehfeldt, 2015: O'Neill & Rehfeldt, 2014, Susa & Schlinger, 2012. For example, O'Neill and Rehfeldt used a lag-1 reinforcement schedule during selection-based training by reinforcing participants' responses when they selected a different response than the last prior response to an interview question presented on a computer screen.…”