BCBA Stimulus Control and Verbal Behavior 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which stimulus control concept describes a learner responding correctly to a trained stimulus but not to similar untrained stimuli?
- Stimulus generalization
- Stimulus discrimination (Correct answer)
- Stimulus overselectivity
- Stimulus equivalence
Correct answer: Stimulus discrimination
Stimulus discrimination occurs when a behavior is emitted in the presence of the SD but not in the presence of stimuli that were not reinforced.
Question 2: A verbal operant under the control of a motivating operation that is reinforced by a generalized conditioned reinforcer is called a:
- Tact
- Mand (Correct answer)
- Intraverbal
- Echoic
Correct answer: Mand
A mand is controlled by a motivating operation and produces the specific reinforcer related to that operation.
Question 3: When a student labels a picture of a dog as 'dog' with no other prompts, this is an example of which verbal operant?
- Mand
- Echoic
- Tact (Correct answer)
- Intraverbal
Correct answer: Tact
A tact is a verbal operant evoked by a nonverbal discriminative stimulus (the picture) and maintained by generalized conditioned reinforcement.
Question 4: Multiple exemplar training is primarily used to promote which behavioral outcome?
- Stimulus discrimination
- Generalization across settings and stimuli (Correct answer)
- Increased response rate
- Extinction burst prevention
Correct answer: Generalization across settings and stimuli
Training with multiple exemplars exposes learners to varied instances so the skill transfers to untrained stimuli and settings.
Question 5: The process by which a neutral stimulus acquires discriminative control through pairing with an existing SD is called:
- Higher-order conditioning
- Stimulus fading
- Conditional discrimination (Correct answer)
- Blocking
Correct answer: Conditional discrimination
Conditional discrimination (also called stimulus-stimulus pairing in some contexts) establishes new SDs by pairing neutral stimuli with stimuli that already control responding.
Question 6: An intraverbal is maintained by which type of reinforcement?
- Specific item delivery related to the antecedent verbal stimulus
- Generalized conditioned reinforcement (Correct answer)
- Automatic sensory reinforcement
- Tangible reinforcement only
Correct answer: Generalized conditioned reinforcement
Intraverbals, like tacts, are maintained by generalized conditioned reinforcers such as attention or praise, not by specific reinforcers related to the verbal antecedent.
BCBA Stimulus Control and Verbal Behavior 1
Which stimulus control concept describes a learner responding correctly to a trained stimulus but not to similar untrained stimuli?