The Effects of Contingent Caregiver Imitation of Infant Vocalizations: a Comparison of Multiple Caregivers

Abstract

The present study replicated and extended the Pelaez et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 44:33-40, 2011) study, which examined the reinforcing effects of mothers' contingent imitation of their infants' vocalizations. Three infants aged 7-12 months who could vocalize sounds but not words participated with two caregivers for each infant (i.e., triads). During the intervention phase, the caregivers were asked to immediately imitate all vocalizations emitted by the child for a 3-min period. During the yoked control phase, the caregivers listened to an audio recording from the preceding condition and provided vocalizations non-contingently on the infants' responses. The procedures yielded different results across participants; one infant emitted a higher frequency of vocalizations during the contingent imitation phases over the control phases, and the other two infants showed higher rates of responding during the control phases. However, all infants emitted more imitative return vocalizations during contingent reinforcement conditions compared with the yoked control condition.Keywords Infant vocalizations . Language acquisition . Maternal imitation . Echoics . Vocal conditioning . Differential reinforcement of other behavior A significant amount of research has been conducted on the relation between the development of preverbal skills in infants and later language development and academic achievement (see Pelaez et al. 2011). For example, Hart and Risley (1995) examined the differences in vocabulary development over time among children of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. At age 3, larger vocal repertoires in children were correlated with higher socioeconomic status of the family. These findings were thought to be a function of differences in the frequency and richness of words addressed to the children, as well as parents providing additional prompting for the children to participate in reciprocal interactions. Positive correlations were found between children's early language repertoire and academic success at 9 and 10 years of age. Given the results of Hart and Risley's (1995) study and the implications for influencing later academic skills and success, consideration of behavioral mechanisms responsible for larger verbal repertoires of infants is critical. The increase in reciprocal interactions that occurred with parents of higher socioeconomic status suggests the role of imitation as one possible mechanism for the increase in infant vocal verbal behavior.A behavioral analysis of imitation was proposed in Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. The echoic was defined as behavior under the functional control of a Analysis Verbal Behav

Acquisition and Generalization of Complex Empathetic Responses Among Children with Autism

“…Neurotypically developing individuals may learn to engage in empathetic responses because empathy helps to facilitate and maintain social interaction. Results from Poulson (1983), Pelaez, Virues-Ortega, andGewirtz (2011), andHirsh, Stockwell, andWalker (2014) support this hypothesis.…”

“…Her results showed that infants vocalized systematically more during the continuous schedule compared to the DRO condition illustrating that the vocal behavior of infants as young as 2 ½ months old are receptive to behavioral contingencies using social interaction as reinforcement. Additionally, Palaez et al (2011) and Hirsh et al (2014) used a contingent parental imitation as a form of social reinforcement for the vocal behavior of 3-12-month-old infants. Both studies showed greater rates of vocalizations during contingent reinforcement compared to yoked conditions concluding that social reinforcement can serve to reinforce infant behavior.…”

Editorial

“…In addition to applied work, the current volume contains several basic investigations. The spring issue contained an innovative study on teaching tacts of private events (Stocco et al 2014) and a study on the effects of contingent imitation on infant vocalizations (Hirsh et al 2014), and the current issue contains a laboratory study on rule-following (Miller, Hirst, Kaplan, DiGennaro Reed, & Reed) and a demonstration of autoclitic-like behavior in pigeons (Kuroda, Lattal, & García-Penagos). Dixon et al (2007) noted that Skinner's (1957) Verbal Behavior suggests a wealth of underexplored research topics (see also Sundberg 1991), and concluded that in spite of the practical significance of research on teaching basic language skills, "there is a need to expand basic research on verbal behavior to typically developing individuals and to more advanced forms of language" (p. 204).…”

Desenvolvimento e avaliação dos efeitos de uma intervenção psicoterápica destinada a adolescentes com anorexia nervosa e a seus pais: coletânea de casos

“…Em termos analítico-comportamentais, considera-se que a consistência dos comportamentos dos pais com estilo autoritativo está associada à sua sensibilidade às contingências vigentes na interação com os filhos, e produz, como consequência, autocontrole e autorregulação emocional nos adolescentes . A consistência do comportamento parental facilita o treino discriminativo dos filhos, que aprendem as consequências que seus comportamentos podem produzir em diversos contextos (Hirsh, Stockwell, & Walker, 2014).…”

“…Estilos parentais autoritários, negligentes ou indulgentes, por sua vez, estariam ligados a problemas de comportamento e transtornos psiquiátricos (Alvarenga & Piccinini, 2001;Braza et al, 2015;Bolsoni-Silva, Loureiro, & Marturano, 2016;DeHart, Pelham, & Tennen, 2006;Hirsh, Stockwell, & Walker, 2014;Nogueira & Rodrigues, 2016;Pacheco, Teixeira, & Gomes, 2012;Rinhel-Silva, Constantino, & Rondini, 2012;Sabbag & Bolsoni-Silva, 2015).…”